Potato harvest 2023 is nearing its end. While some new potatoes came out of the ground as early as July, the vast majority of this country’s 120 million(ish) cwt of spuds have recently been dug, with harvest completion in view for most growers. How you manage spuds post-harvest will play a critical role in your crop’s ultimate returns. Can you separate bet-your-bank-account-on-it fact from costly fiction in the following storage quiz?
Fact or fiction: Potatoes are essentially inert from harvest until they sprout — Fiction
Potatoes go through complex physiological processes once they’ve been harvested. Through they may appear inert through dormancy, they are anything but: they respire, shift hormonally, and undergo enzyme-induced changes from the very first day of storage onwards. These natural processes carry the tuber along the pathway towards dormancy break and sprouting.
Fact or fiction: Active bin management should begin as soon as suberization is complete — Fiction
One of the most commonly held (but incorrect) beliefs in potato production is that active storage management starts after suberization. In fact, management needs to begin as soon as a bin is loaded. While CIPC can only be applied post-suberization, dormancy enhancer 1,4SIGHT can be applied at bin close-up, providing the support tubers need for their earliest – and let me emphasize – most critical days of storage.
Fact or fiction: Storage losses only occur via sprouting or rotting — Fiction
Storage losses can be measured right from harvest. In the early days of storage, tubers’ respiration can result in significant moisture loss (shrink), physiological aging and increased opportunity for bruising – all of which directly impact ultimate financial returns. While sprouting and rotting are major and obvious causes of a loss of salable yield, a slow-settling, unsupported pile begins costing dollars from day one of storage.
Fact or fiction: It’s time for the potato industry to look beyond CIPC — Fact
CIPC has been the potato industry’s go-to and nearly exclusive sprout management product since 1951. Back 72 years ago, it was a wonder-chemical that, for the first time, enabled reliable long-term storage and long-distance shipping. No matter how fantastic the product was at the outset, we’ve come a long way in our understanding of agricultural chemistries and our prioritization of things like worker safety, building contamination and environmental sustainability. Though CIPC is effective at suppressing sprouts, that’s all it can do. As an industry, we need to do better.
1,4SIGHT is a highly effective, much more modern storage product that offers benefits well beyond sprout suppression. A synthetic version of a naturally-occurring potato hormone, 1,4SIGHT triggers enzymes in tubers to enhance dormancy. As such, it reduces water loss, decreases the appearance of pressure bruise, protects salable yield, triggers fungistatic genes, and supports field-fresh quality. And, being a bio-control, it’s greener and more sustainable too. It’s time to make the switch.
