The potato plots of the Crop Tour are increasingly in need of precipitation, especially in the south of the country the soil is very dry. The growers of the plots in Cuijk, Hank and Fijnaart even indicate that they will not be able to harvest if there is no precipitation in the short term. In addition, the wait is blown until the plot is completely dead.
In Cuijk (North Brabant) the potato plot has been sprayed with Spotlight. “I do wonder if this was still necessary, because there was not much left of the crop. But, now I have certainty that I can harvest the potatoes in about 2 weeks.” The grower makes the observation that it still has to rain. “At the moment it is far too dry on the plot. We have to irrigate our other plots again.”
Growers in Hank (North Brabant) and Fijnaart (North Brabant) also made this observation. The grower in Hank let us know that colleagues who are already grubbing (especially table potatoes) have to drizzle in order to be able to harvest at all. In Fijnaart, the crop dies evenly, but there is no question of starting grubbing up yet. “As good as the moisture management was in recent weeks, it’s so bad now.”
The plot in Scharendijke (Zeeland) is only cleared in the morning because of the high temperatures. “I can’t stop the potatoes. They are nicely uniform and not too crazy rude.” The fact that these 4 plots are suffering from drought is also apparent from the rainfall data. There was no rainfall on these plots last week.
| Plot | Last week’s precipitation |
| Middle Lake | 19.6 millimetres |
| Dronten | 3.3 millimeters |
| Apple sevil | 2.5 millimetres |
| Oldeholtwolde | 2.0 millimeters |
| Ens | 1.8 millimetres |
| Someren | 0.5 millimetres |
| Scharendijke | 0.0 millimetres |
| Cuijk | 0.0 millimetres |
| Fine-art | 0.0 millimetres |
| Hank | 0.0 millimetres |
Waiting for plot has died
On the plots where drought is not an issue, especially the plots in the middle and north of the country, the wait is blown. The plot in Dronten (Flevoland) was sprayed with Quickdown this week and also in Ens (Flevoland) the potato plot has now been sprayed to death. The 2 growers of these plots hope to start harvesting within 14 days. In Middenmeer (Noord-Holland) the plot with Innovators must die naturally.
On the plot in Someren (North Brabant) Quickdown was also spray-painted this week and the grower hopes to spray Spotlight in 8 to 9 days. “They’re still green on it. Now that the use of Reglone is no longer allowed, it is necessary to spray twice.” Where many other plots in the south of the Netherlands are suffering from extreme drought, the grower of the plot in Someren does not foresee any problems with grubbing up.
Plot still too green
The only potato plot of the Boerenbusiness Crop Tour that has not (yet) been treated with deciduous killing is the plot in Appelscha (Friesland). “The plot is still about 70% green and that’s why we’re waiting a while with praise,” explains the grower. He does report that the underwater weight has decreased slightly since the trial harvesting due to precipitation: around 370 grams. In Dronten the underwater weight is around 390 grams and in Someren the underwater weights are between 360 and 390 grams.
