Trying to educate myself
Evening chaps, does anyone have any suggestions on where to go to improve your knowledge on potato nutritional requirements over the growing season. Or any suggestions on places to improve overall knowledge? Young, enthusiastic potato farmer here growing <100 acres. Finding it hard to gain experience as it takes almost a year to know if something different you’ve tried is a good or bad decision!
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Welcome along to the crazy world of potato growing!
Tell us about you - soil type, rainfall, market, rotation, any livestock etc
It makes sense to utilize what you have and go from there - but start with a broad spectrum soil test
Have you got a potato agronomist?
Here, my potato agronomist is a different person to the one that I use to advise on all my other crops.
I take into account any nutrition available from pre potato cover crops and any muck applied, then top up from there.
Usually Polysulpate in the base, as potashplus. This gives me k, mg, (fortunately we don't need a lot), ca (Calcium is an underrated nutrient in potatoes imo) and sulphur - I use liquid N to top dress, mixed with the pre em herbicide, so it's the best way I have of getting sulphur into the crop. Kieserite another alternative, particularly if you need high mg applying
We then place DAP at planting, and use consortium Z and bugboost in preference to Amistar to defend against rhizoctonia.
As I said, top dress with liquid.
Feel free to ask questions, we all set off knowing nowt!