Idaho Falls, Idaho
February 21, 2006
After they've sold their 2,200 potted mums each fall,
Mountain States Plants
typically idles its 2,300-square-foot greenhouse at
Hagerman.
`But this year, during its normal November-January downtime,
the greenhouse hosted 30 seedlots of Idaho potatoes. Each
seedlot-comprised of 400 golf-ball-sized, "single-drop"
tubers-was being evaluated for unwanted infection by the
plant viruses PVA, PVY and potato leafroll, a requirement
for recertification by the Idaho Crop Improvement
Association. In the greenhouse's growth-stimulating
geothermal heat, the potatoes' leaves were ready for testing
by late January and participating seed potato growers were
informed whether their seedlots were "clean" by Feb. 3.
A matched set
of seedlots growing in winter test plots at Oxnard,
California, won't be ready to test until early March, says
Phil Nolte, University of
Idaho Extension potato disease specialist and
coordinator of the grower-funded research project. "The game
for growers is to get accurate results as early as possible
so that you can line up buyers or decide which lots to
replant in your own seed fields this spring," Nolte says.
Idaho seed
potato growers are in the habit of sending their seedlots to
Oxnard - 50 miles north of Los Angeles - for winter testing,
but they're becoming increasingly concerned about their
competitors' new practice of sending seedlots to Hawaii
instead. Because the Hawaiian results are available a week
or two ahead of those from slightly cooler southern
California, these enterprising competitors have been getting
a jump on sales, Nolte says. Between the logistics of
shipping seedlots on ocean-going cargo vessels and the risks
of confounding data with Hawaii's additional insect or
disease problems, Idaho's seed growers haven't rushed to
join the exodus to the 50th state-especially with balmy,
underused greenhouses available right here.
"We can crank
up the heat to 85 degrees in the daytime and 75 degrees at
night-temperatures you couldn't get in California this time
of year," Nolte says.
Shoshone seed grower Mike Telford, chairman of the ICIA's
sub-committee on winter testing and one of seven producers
who enrolled their seedlots in this year's experiment,
championed the study.
Charged to
find ways to get earlier and more accurate test results, the
sub-committee explored winter greenhouse use by Oregon
counterparts and eventually found "very capable management"
and "someone who was willing to experiment right along with
us" at Mountain States Plants in Hagerman.
Nurseryman
Layne Flint and his father, Cal, didn't need much
persuading. "It just sounded interesting to me," says the
younger Flint, vice president of the firm's Idaho
operations. "I think it's awesome to be able to do something
for our potato growers, and I just really enjoyed it. It was
kind of a fun, learning experience."
Although Idaho
potatoes haven't suffered serious bouts of potato leafroll
virus in recent years and PVA is a minor but nagging
concern, creeping levels of PVY have snagged the industry's
attention, Nolte says. For ICIA recertification and for
sales to fellow seed producers, PVY infection levels can't
exceed a half percent in summer or 2 percent in winter.
Nolte discourages seed producers from selling seedlots even
to commercial growers if infection levels exceed 10 percent.
Previous research by Nolte's team indicates that a 1 percent
infection rate in a certified seedlot translates into a 1.5
hundredweight yield reduction in an acre of commercial
potatoes.
Without
geothermal heat, winter-time production of either potatoes
or poinsettias wouldn't be economically feasible in Idaho,
Flint says. Water enters the Hagerman greenhouse at a toasty
165 degrees, and "we can kick the temperatures up into the
80s with no problem all winter long."
Regardless of
the low-cost heat, Nolte estimates that the price tag for
the Hagerman greenhouse evaluations will significantly
exceed that of the California field trials, which currently
adds up to just $150 to $160 per seedlot. Simply potting up
the spuds, treating them with a dormancy-breaking chemical
and paying the greenhouse bill comes to $260 per seedlot,
Nolte says.
That doesn't
include the expenses associated with his skilled Idaho
Falls-based employees maintaining and scoring the Hagerman
flats. "At the very least, it will cost twice as much as in
California," he says. This year, as part of an unusually
intensive research effort, Nolte's team tested each leaf of
each plant with the highly accurate ELISA test, driving the
costs even higher.
How much the
earlier information is worth to growers is something only
they can decide. Telford thinks the greenhouse testing could
consistently yield results one to two months ahead of
California's. "By having the information earlier, it
provides someone who is looking to recertify his seed with
all kinds of options, and it lets a seed grower tell his
customers that he has viable, clean seed to sell," Telford
says. "It's all about timing and being able to get your crop
sold."
Unfortunately,
Nolte says Mountain States Plants can put roofs over a
maximum of just 200 seedlots during any given winter. That's
only about a fourth of the Idaho seedlots needing
evaluation. Greenhouses without geothermal heat wouldn't be
able to contribute to the cause. "So far, we've had a
successful test," says Nolte, "but there are still some
issues relative to cost and capacity that we need to work
out."
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