Chemical tuber treatment
As producers want to reduce risks, and agro-chemicals used on tubers are relatively cheap, there is a tendency for producers to overuse these products.
Agro-chemicals however cannot replace the use of good agricultural, handling and storage practices.
Agro-chemicals should only be used complementary.
- do not leave the tubers, after haulm destruction of immature seed crop,
for longer than 10-15 days in the soil
- avoid damage and promote wound healing
- keep tubers dry, especially rain on freshly harvested tubers is dangerous (bacteria!!)
- bring only sound tubers into the store
- keep storage temperatures low
- provide ventilation in stores
Chemicals
Chemicals to control storage diseases are in most cases applied as a pre-storage treatment as a dust or liquid application.
Dust application--------Liquid application
Powder versus liquid application
The liquid application has as the advantage that the tuber surface is well covered with the chemical.
The disadvantage is that with the application of liquids bacterial diseases are easily spread.
The risks of spreading bacterial diseases is higher when a relatively large quantity of water is used (dip application) and is less when spraying tubers with a solution of the chemical. The lowest risk exists with a mist application, using a small quantity of liquid of relatively high concentration.
Selection of chemicals
Chemicals are selected on the basis of the expected problems and their specific activity.
SELETED CHEMICALS