In the June 2014 Badger Common’Tater

Getting Creative with Fresh Market Potato Vine Kill

By Jed Colquhoun, Professor and Extension Specialist, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The financial benefit of being first to the fresh potato market, particularly in highly sought after specialty varieties, is significant in most years.  This market advantage, however, poses a production conundrum: growers push the potatoes as hard as possible to produce an early and high-yielding crop, and then try to stop that freight train on a dime to hit the hot market.

It has proven difficult in recent seasons to adequately kill fresh market potato vines for early harvest, sometimes resulting in compromised skin set and subsequent tuber bruising and scuffing, poor stolon separation and harvest challenges.  To get the full story on this perplexing topic, read The Badger Beat column in the June edition of The Badger Common’Tater.

Vigorous fresh market potato vines can be difficult to kill, leaving behind green leaves and stems that are susceptible to plant diseases and potentially compromising skin set and stolon separation.

 

TV Commercial Features Wisconsin Potatoes

Have you ever seen Wisconsin potatoes in a TV commercial? Your opportunity isn’t far away. Thanks to a new partnership with the fun-loving grilling duo, Mad Dog & Merrill, WPVGA will be airing an episode devoted to Wisconsin potatoes in addition to a 30-second commercial that will play in every Mad Dog & Merrill episode through the end of the season. And there’s a good taste of the industry packed into that half minute time period! For more details, check out the Marketplace column in the June 2014 issue of The Badger Common’Tater.

Potato grower Matt Mattek of J.W. Mattek & Sons, Inc., Deerbrook, is shown in a grocery store during the production of the new Wisconsin potatoes television commercial.

SpudPro Committee to Name Two New Potato Varieties

This summer, the WPVGA SpudPro Committee plans to name two new outstanding potato varieties that have been developed by the University of Wisconsin Potato Breeding Program. A new red variety, W6002-1R, as well as a new yellow variety, W6703-1Y, will be named in July and will be available from Wisconsin certified seed potato growers this fall.  For more information, read the June 2014 issue of The Badger Common’Tater.