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July/August 2006

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Two New Potato Herbicides

By Dr. Rick Boydston, USDA-ARS, Prosser, WA

Outlook and Chateau are two new preemergence herbicides now labeled for use in potatoes. Outlook is manufactured
by BASF and Chateau is a Valent product. Both products are currently restricted to preemergence applications only, and
both products should improve nightshade control when tank mixed with other potato herbicides.

Outlook
Dimethenamid-p is the active ingredient in Outlook and is a chloroacetamide herbicide with a similar mode of action to that
of Dual herbicide. The herbicide is taken up through shoots of emerging weeds and should be applied prior to weed emergence.
In numerous research trials, Outlook was particularly strong on annual grass weeds (foxtail sp., barnyardgrass, fall panicum,
crabgrass sp.), pigweed and nightshade species (hairy, black and cutleaf nightshade) and suppressed yellow nutsedge. Two
other key weeds that Outlook controls are purslane and spurge. Outlook is fair on common lambsquarters, Russian thistle and
kochia but improves common lambsquarters control as a tank mix partner. Outlook is also weak on common cocklebur and
sunfl ower.

The Potato Cyst Nematode: Why the Concern?

The discovery of potato cyst nematode in an Idaho potato fi eld earlier this year came as a great surprise to many, including
Dr. Ekaterini Riga, a nematologist at Washington State University-Prosser.

Prior to her current appointment, Riga spent nearly four years in the United Kingdom, where the potato cyst nematode, Globodera pallida, is a major pest and infects nearly 80 percent of the fi elds.

While the nematode poses no threat to the integrity of tubers themselves, they attach themselves to plant roots, siphon off needed nutrition and water and reduce overall yields. Normally, the nematode does not invade the tubers but can impact overall size distribution.

“If you have a healthy plant next to an infected one, you can readily see the difference in height and overall production,” Riga notes.
“ Like other types of nematodes, the potato cyst nematode infects certain parts of the fi eld more than others. Flowering is delayed.
Infected areas are easily seen as they do not fl ower in the same way as uninfected plants. You will see pockets of fl owering and non-fl owering plants growing side by side.”

Farming Remains ‘Gratifying’for This Fifth-generation Specialty Ptato Business

The ownership of Knutzen Farms, a Burlington, Washington potato operation, offi cially changed hands last August, although the three partners have been doing the day-to-day work for many years.

Kraig Knutzen, Kristi Gundersen and Konnie McCutchin are the son and daughters of Roger and Lou Ann Knutzen and represent the fi fth generation of Knutzens to operate the diversifi ed 2,000-plus-acre agribusiness. The family plants and harvests 900 to 1,000 acres of potatoes each year. Their specialty crop is potatoes—red-, white- and yellow-fl eshed varieties?marketed throughout the United States and into the Asian Rim under the Chuckanut Valley, Naturally Healthy and Highland View labels.

Knutzen Farms was founded in 1894 by Jess H. Knutzen, who immigrated from Brogar, Denmark. He settled near Burlington in Washington’s Skagit Valley and began farming in what was then called Highland View Farms.

Sixth Generation Showing Interest One hundred and 12 years later, Kristi, Kraig and Konnie are rearing a sixth generation they hope will perpetuate the family legacy. Each has two children. Kristi and her husband Kevin have a son,
Daniel, 19, a sophomore in college, and Alyssa, 17, a high school senior. Kraig and his wife Colleen have a son, Tyler, 16, a high school junior, and Jacob, 14, a high school freshman. Konnie and her husband Mike have an 11-year-old daughter, Korrin, a sixth grader, and an eight-year-old son, Kolton, a third grader.

Washington Group Carries Out Successful Educational Exchange with EPA

They didn’t bring popcorn, but representatives of the Washington State Potato Commission did bring moving pictures to a visit early this year with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. Recent conversations among potato growers and employees of the federal agency revealed questions and misconceptions on the part of the agency regarding use of some pest management methods. Washington growers decided to bring the farm to D.C. in the form of a swiftly produced nine-minute video demonstrating handling and application of crop protection compounds during the planting of potato seed.

Video Proved Helpful
“ The video was immediately popular and greatly appreciated by the people we met with,” said WSPC Executive Director Chris Voigt, who accompanied the delegation of Washington growers Randy Mullen, Ellie Charvet and Lynn Olsen. The state potato industry representatives were also in the nation’s capital to visit with the entire Washington Congressional delegation to discuss trade, immigration and farm bill issues.

Ethiopian Potato Project Opened His Eyes to What America Is Doing

After spending 20 days in rural Ethiopia recently analyzing what can be done to improve the country’s struggling
potato industry, Roger Knutzen, Burlington, Washington potato grower, came home recently deeply touched by his experience. He served as a volunteer under the U.S.

Department of Agriculture’s Farmer to Farmer Program. His assignment was to help the Ethiopian government’s handicapped potato industry better feed its impoverished 77-million population. As an experienced potato grower and former chairman of the U.S. Potato Board, Knutzen was asked to evaluate the country’s potato production
system and what can be done to improve it.

Time Well Spent
“I feel very strong about our position in Iraq today, but I could never understand why we could be spending $1 billion every two or three weeks in struggles such as that while people in countries, such as Ethiopia, are so short on food,” Knutzen says. “I think we are in Iraq for the right reasons, but this experience helped me see that we are also
doing something in Africa, and I am very satisfi ed that what we are doing is the proper approach. While we are not giving them money, we are helping them put together an infrastructure that will eventually help them to make it on their own.”

Potato Cyst Nematode Traced to Single Idaho Field

Scientists looking for evidence of potato cyst nematode (PCN) in Idaho confi rmed June 13 the presence of the pest in one eastern Idaho fi eld, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA).

The cysts were discovered in soil samples collected by APHIS and the ISDA. The soil was collected as part of the investigation into the April 19, detection of the pest, which was found in routine samples taken at a potato grading station in Idaho. The nematode does not pose any threat to human health, but can reduce the yield of potatoes and other crops. There is no sign that the quality of tubers grown in Idaho has been affected.

The soil samples that tested positive for PCN were collected from a 45-acre fi eld located in northern Bingham County, south of Idaho Falls. Production in the area is for fresh market and processed potatoes, not seed potatoes. The fi eld is not within an Idaho Seed Potato Crop Management area, where safeguards assuring quality are monitored. As part of the investigation, more than 2,500 samples representing numerous fi elds associated with the grading station were tested. All other samples collected as part of the investigation have tested negative for PCN.