We are pleased to announce that @organicplantsuk are selling the whole range of our low-input potato varieties by mail order. Hurry while stocks last.
They also sell a range of organically grown veg plants of the best varieties raised in peat-free compost for the gardener.
Our new blight resister is a tomato!
In recent years, trying to grow tomatoes outdoors has been a waste of time. But now you can plant a new variety,Crimson Crush, confident that it will cope when the potato/tomato blight strikes in June or July each year.
Crimson Crush is a cordon (indeterminate) tomato with large fruits and a good flavour and is available as seedlings from Suttons Seeds.
The research behind this new variety was a collaboration between the Sarvari Research Trust, Bangor University and an independent breeder, Simon Crawford of Burpee Europe. The project was part funded by a Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS) of the EU to James Stroud, a PhD student supervised by BU crop breeder, Katherine Steele.
Breeding material was screened for molecular markers, indicating the presence of resistance genes known to be effective against Phytophthora infestans. In Crimson Crush, the resistance genes Ph-2 and Ph-3 are present. This combination confers improved resistance to the strains of blight that have arisen in recent years.
Crimson Crush is a cordon (indeterminate) tomato with large fruits and a good flavour and is available as seedlings from Suttons Seeds.
The research behind this new variety was a collaboration between the Sarvari Research Trust, Bangor University and an independent breeder, Simon Crawford of Burpee Europe. The project was part funded by a Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS) of the EU to James Stroud, a PhD student supervised by BU crop breeder, Katherine Steele.
Breeding material was screened for molecular markers, indicating the presence of resistance genes known to be effective against Phytophthora infestans. In Crimson Crush, the resistance genes Ph-2 and Ph-3 are present. This combination confers improved resistance to the strains of blight that have arisen in recent years.
 |
| Katherine, James and Simon show the tomato trial at Henfaes Research Centre to Medwyn Williams |
Bees and potatoes and fungicides
Did you hear Dave Goulson just now BBC radio 4 "The life scientific" I am a great fan of Dave and have just read his book on Bumblebees "A sting in the tail". Dave et al. have been doing some experiments on Neonicotinoid insecticides, usually present in OSR (rape) fields as a seed dressing.
He treated half of his nests of a common bumblebee with a neonic, at the concentration calculated from the amount on pollen from treated plants that would be brought back to a nest. Later he counted new queens from treated and untreated nests and found 85% reduction in new queens in treated nests. Clearly the neonic at low concs has a drastic effect on nest productiviy.
This gets me wondering if the mix of fungicides applied to flowering crops of potatoes at weekly intervals to control late blight has any effect on the pollinating insects on the crop. We hope to learn more about pollinating insects on potato when we do an experiment at Henfaes Research Centre in 2014 as part of a KESS project. My MRes student, Natalie Chivers, will run the experiment and we hope to find out just how many bees and other insects are present in plots of various varieties of spud (Sarpo included) in different locations. We will not get all the answers but will certainly know more of the questions we need to ask.
A world food revolution - seawater-fed potatoes in the news
The Observer on Saturday heralded a breakthrough by a group from the Netherlands who are irrigating
their potatoes with diluted seawater.
Now why does that sound familiar.
Oh I remember. In 2012 and 2011 we conducted trials to find out if seawater can control late blight
of potato. And the result? We found that 50% seawater did not damage potato
plants growing in pots or in the field. When pots were watered with a dense suspension
of sporangia of P. infestans, seawater treated pots yielded healthy potatoes
whereas controls with tap water only,
had a high proportion of blighted tubers.
Results on blight control from field plots were less
convincing but there was a clear increase in yield of potatoes in the treated
plots in both of the fields chosen for
the trial when compared with fresh water plots.
This work was part-funded by
the Potato Council Ltd and by a KESS (Knowledge, Economy, Skills) scholarship
from Bangor University and the EU to our student, Lorena Larreon.
Observer Article: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/18/humble-potato-poised-to-launch-food-revolution
Our Open Days on 4th and 5th September welcomed around 60 guests to Henfaes, over two days of perfect summer weather.
 |
| James outlines his PhD research |
Our tomato experts were there in force on the first day. Simon Crawford of Burpee Europe introduced our collaborative project on breeding tomato varieties with better resistance to late blight. John Burrows and Barry Smith from ProVeg provided tomato samples for guests to taste and score. James Stroud (PhD - KESS student with SRT and Bangor University) told us about his latest results on breeding with resistance genes and on a comparison of populations of Phytophthora infestans taken from tomato with that from potato in UK. James is making good progress identifying resistance genes using molecular probes and combining these in progeny that have desirable traits for the amateur and professional grower.
 |
| Simon Crawford, James and Katherine discuss the trial with Medwyn Williams |
 |
| Katherine explains the tunnel trial |
After the talks, Simon, John, Barry and Katherine Steele (KESS supervisor, Bangor University) showed guests around the field and poly tunnels Here, selected genotypes and cultivars are on trial for their blight resistance, taste and use in the UK outdoor climate.
David Shaw introduced and updated our work on the Sarpo range of blight resistant potatoes. A current research strand involves treating blight-susceptible varieties of potato with dilute sea water. Results show this can suppress tuber blight and increase crop yield. A trial with a foliar feed containing phosphite (Phi-Diamond) showed suppression of foliage blight and also increased yield of tubers of blight susceptible cultivars.
 |
| Simon White explains the replicated potato trial |
Simon White told guests about the production of Sarpo seed potato crops in North Wales and elsewhere and his ongoing project selecting new Sarpo varieties. We were pleased to introduce David Gale who is now managing sales of Sarpo seed for our new company, Sarpo Potatoes Ltd, which is owned by the Trust.
When we visited the field trial of potatoes, guests saw Sarpo blight resistance in action. Replicate plots of selected cultivars and potential cultivars were showing little or no foliage blight They stood out from plots of susceptible cultivars (dead) and of controls with only moderate resistance.
 |
| David Shaw and Simon in the potato trial |
We were pleased to welcome some of our team of Buzzbnk Crowdfunders on the Friday. A few of these are having fun doing their own crosses and selecting for traits that interest them. This activity was common among amateur growers in the 19th century and should be pursued more often today. You never know, you might find a winner.
We were pleased to welcome our own Potato Guru from Fyfe, Alan Romans. Alan told us what the Sarpo potatoes mean to him and their greater importance in the world of potatoes. He emphasised that they are a different breed of potato from those most often grown. To be grown well they need to be understood and treated differently e.g. their ability to be used early, mid-season and late and the dangers of letting them grow on too long in the autumn. Experiment!
On both days, our visitors enjoyed a potato-themed lunch made with Sarpo varieties and cooked by Café-Deli 1815. Chips made from new-season’s Blue Danube went down well, and so did the local Jones o Gymru crisps.
Sarvari Research Trust is part supported by the Supply Chain Efficiencies scheme of the Welsh Government under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
THE BLIGHT BITES
As always, the blight season in 2014 has been different from all others. Some sites had severe infections in June and others, not more than a mile away, did not suffer infection for another month. Differences are partly due to microclimate but more likely this year is presence or absence of an active source of infection ie spores being produced from a sprouted and infected tuber that was bought in as seed or was dumped or unharvested from a last year's crop.
Our trial at Henfaes now has dead plots of susceptible varieties (like King Edward and Maris Piper) and growing plots with little or no blight indicating a genotype with substantial resistance. Simon is scoring the percentage of foliage infected within each plot at regular intervals. The trial should be demonstrating differences of resistance/susceptibility for all genotypes in time for our Open Days on 4 and 5 September.
s
Our trial at Henfaes now has dead plots of susceptible varieties (like King Edward and Maris Piper) and growing plots with little or no blight indicating a genotype with substantial resistance. Simon is scoring the percentage of foliage infected within each plot at regular intervals. The trial should be demonstrating differences of resistance/susceptibility for all genotypes in time for our Open Days on 4 and 5 September.
 |
| Plant pathologist, George Little, from Northern Ireland (Bangor) discussing resistance of clones with Simon in trial at Henfaes. The King Edward plot has dead foliage |
Blight is off to an early start.
Every year the disease we call Late Blight is around and waiting to destroy our crops of potato and tomato. And every year, the arrival and reproduction of the pathogen, Phytophthora infestans, is different. Last year we didn't see much disease until very late in the season but we had a very mild winter. This means that unharvested tubers lying on or just under the soil surface were not frosted and some of these must have carried a latent infection of blight. Some of these infected tubers will grow on as volunteers in the next crop or in a ditch or discard pile and in a small percentage of these the blight will grow into the sprout and produce spores on the leaves and stems. Similarly, latent infection on seed tubers can give rise to an outbreak of the disease.
That's how blight gets started each year. The first sample, from a dump, was noted on 9th May. This is quite a bit earlier than usual. The weather in May and in early June favoured blight reproduction and spread - that is, minimum temperatures above 10C and high humidity or rainfall. As a service to potato growers, the Potato Council Ltd has a web site that records when blight has been detected in postcode areas throughout GB. This depends on potato professionals (Blight Scouts) sending leaves or stems from suspected outbreaks to FERA for confirmation. Amateurs (Monitors) are also encouraged to register and receive prepaid mailing envelops and instructions. Dots are placed on the map so that the risk of blight arriving on healthy crops can be assessed. Conducive weather (Smith periods) AND a confirmed outbreak in your area means that you must watch your crop carefully for the first signs of the tale-tale brown/black spots on leaves and stems that indicate blight. That is when the commercial grower will protect his crop with fungicide and apply it at weekly intervals to prevent any infection. In dry conditions, the weekly applications are usually discontinued or extended.
Of course growers of our Sarpo varieties do not need to use fungicide. But if you are growing a Sarpo cultivar with moderate resistance on a large scale you might consider less frequent application of preventive fungicide particularly in a wet season.
A measure of the earliness of blight this year is that 88 samples of blighted foliage were sent in by the end of June whereas you need to go back to 2006 or 2007 to find anything approaching this number. In 2006, 60 blight outbreaks were detected and 56 in 2007 (which later became a blight meltdown year).
Our trials at Henfaes have remained healthy so far in spite of severe blight outbreaks on the allotments at Llanfairfechan a few miles to the east. Early attacks are devastating as the whole plant may lose all foliage before any tubers have formed = CROP FAILURE.
Allotment gardens are often places where blight develops.This is because lots of susceptible varieties are grown, few if any are sprayed against blight and hygiene in not always up to scratch e.g. dumps of old tubers and volunteers on neglected plots. So 2014 has the makings of a meltdown year again but it all depends on the weather during July and August. We just might escape.
That's how blight gets started each year. The first sample, from a dump, was noted on 9th May. This is quite a bit earlier than usual. The weather in May and in early June favoured blight reproduction and spread - that is, minimum temperatures above 10C and high humidity or rainfall. As a service to potato growers, the Potato Council Ltd has a web site that records when blight has been detected in postcode areas throughout GB. This depends on potato professionals (Blight Scouts) sending leaves or stems from suspected outbreaks to FERA for confirmation. Amateurs (Monitors) are also encouraged to register and receive prepaid mailing envelops and instructions. Dots are placed on the map so that the risk of blight arriving on healthy crops can be assessed. Conducive weather (Smith periods) AND a confirmed outbreak in your area means that you must watch your crop carefully for the first signs of the tale-tale brown/black spots on leaves and stems that indicate blight. That is when the commercial grower will protect his crop with fungicide and apply it at weekly intervals to prevent any infection. In dry conditions, the weekly applications are usually discontinued or extended.
Of course growers of our Sarpo varieties do not need to use fungicide. But if you are growing a Sarpo cultivar with moderate resistance on a large scale you might consider less frequent application of preventive fungicide particularly in a wet season.
A measure of the earliness of blight this year is that 88 samples of blighted foliage were sent in by the end of June whereas you need to go back to 2006 or 2007 to find anything approaching this number. In 2006, 60 blight outbreaks were detected and 56 in 2007 (which later became a blight meltdown year).
Our trials at Henfaes have remained healthy so far in spite of severe blight outbreaks on the allotments at Llanfairfechan a few miles to the east. Early attacks are devastating as the whole plant may lose all foliage before any tubers have formed = CROP FAILURE.
Allotment gardens are often places where blight develops.This is because lots of susceptible varieties are grown, few if any are sprayed against blight and hygiene in not always up to scratch e.g. dumps of old tubers and volunteers on neglected plots. So 2014 has the makings of a meltdown year again but it all depends on the weather during July and August. We just might escape.
 |
| Open Day at Henfaes in Mid June - no blight in sight - yet. |
 |
| This plant was infected soon after emergence. Latent infection of the seed tuber is a strong possibility here. |