Potato Season Update with Albert Bartlett's Justin Wilderspin

Justin Wilderspin is Head of Farming at Albert Bartlett. Responsible for over 500 hectares of potatoes, Justin has a unique perspective on potato growing.

“Planting started a week earlier than last year on 17th March and the potatoes were planted into soils in a lovely condition - the best we have had for at least 2 years,” says Justin.

By the end of the campaign soils were becoming too dry and I have concerns about being able to maintain ridge shape, especially with irrigation on the horizon.

“When they are this dry, they have little structure and are prone to falling away,” he explains.

Currently Justin is deciding when and how much to irrigate.

“There is some moisture in the ground and holding back will encourage roots to grow in search of it, which will help later in the season. Early irrigating at tuber set is required for common scab management, however there is a balance to be played with water at bulking to preserve yield potential.”

Getting crops off to a good start is key for Justin and, following good performance in trials, half of the potatoes planted at Albert Bartlett Farms have been treated with the Honesty Potato Pack .

“Where Honesty hasn’t been used we’ve supplemented with ALLSTAR. At this scale, it’s really important to get strong emergence and achieve an even crop – it makes their management throughout the season that much easier.”

While crops are off to a great start and could have a lot of potential, Justin is cautious about being optimistic.

“We’ve not had a frost in late May for a good number of years, but it could happen, knocking back the foliage and the crop’s potential; with forward crops this hit is even harder. We could still see drought, floods and even a wet a harvest so I don’t want to count any chickens yet. For now, however, this is the most potential we’ve seen in recent years.”