MSU Muck Farm Open Day

The annual late blight open day at the MSU Muck Farm was held this year on September 1st. The turn out this year was good with Michigan potato growers, chemical company representatives and MSU faculty and staff being present. The weather was perfect for the tour and people started to congregate on the muck around 9.45 am, with the tour of the fungicide plots starting around 10 am.
The tour started with a demonstration of some of the new fungicides available this year with a comparison between non-treated (left) and treated blocks (right; see photo above).

After visiting the fungicide plots, field technician Rob Schafer gave participants a tractor ride around the variety trials and Drs. Dave Douches and Willie Kirk, provided commentary on the on-going late blight resistance studies being carried out (see below).
After tourning the research plots on the muck, participants retreated to the barn where a great lunch consisting of BBQ ribs, chicken, beans, and potato salad and coleslaw, along with a variety of cold drinks was provided by FMC (the registrants of Ranman).

Crop protection article now available online

Our latest article entitle "Evaluation of potato late blight management utilizing host plant resistance and reduced rates and frequencies of fungicide applications" has just been published in the Novermber issue of Crop Protection. You can download the article in .pdf form on the recent publications page.