b"The Drama with Row WidthsJust how much does the space between your rows affect your potatoes?BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONFOR MORE THAN a century, potato growers around the world have planted34 to 36 inches. In Canada, row widths are around 34 inches, while in Europe their crops in rows. The widths between those rows have varied due to themost are 30 inches. The United Kingdom is unique as they usually plant one space between horses, tire widths, soil conditions and irrigation or dry fields.row at 38 inches, followed by two 34-inch rows and then a 38-inch row again. Why don't we just plant them like wheat and spread them across theThis is because they have large tires for destoning and decloding the land, so field? This is an important consideration. Traditionally, there are actually quitethey need room for the tires. a few reasons why we plant in a row, efficiently order use of space, guideFor Paveks study they planted nine different potato varieties including equipment to avoid smashing potatoes, Mark Pavek explains during a presen- Russet Burbank, Umatilla Russet, Ranger Ranger, Clearwater Russet and tation on row withs at the virtual Canadian Potato Congress on Feb. 24. Alturas, over the course of five years. They moved the rows closer together or Pavek is a professor in the department of horticulture at Washington Statefurther apart ranging from 30 to 36 inches over the course of the study. It was University. As part of a five-year study on potato rows in the Columbia Basinfound 36 inches was too wide for the Columbia Basin and 28 inches was add-in Washington, he experimented with various row widths to find out whated to the study instead after the first year. The same level of inputs, fertilizers, widths are best for potato crops and why, in order to maximize production. fungicides, pesticides, and irrigation was used.There are some things that are known about how row width affectsWhat we found was as your rows move closer together, the plants grow potatoes, Pavek says. If rows are narrower there will be more tubers per acre,longer vines. And the reason for that, I believe is because the plants sense the but per plant each may produce fewer tubers because of the competition forcompetition. They're trying to get their vines longer so they can gather more space. The tubers may also be smaller in size.sunlight, he says.What we want to do in all potato production systems is optimize ourAverage tuber weight didnt vary much as the plants adjusted to the maximum return, not necessarily our yield. If you're interested in onlycompetition, Pavek explains. Tuber number per plant shifted around, with maximizing your yield, you might miss the boat because your size profilenarrow rows producing fewer tubers per plant due to increased competition again is very important because potatoes are bought sold mainly onand vice versa. size, Pavek explains. To some degree these plants sense the competition, and Row width also varies depending on wherein this case, they produce almost the same number of tu-you grow potatoes. In Washington, rows arebers per acre, even though the row width had changed, between 32 to 34 inches, the rest of thePavek says.northwest United States varies between Potatoes areplanted to test their performance at various row widths at WashingtonState University. PHOTO: MARKPAVEK22 SPUDSMART.COM SPRING 2021"