November/December 2019 - 21

WISCONSIN
The Wisconsin seed potato crop is
strongly diversified and acreage holding
steady despite back to back seasons
with challenging harvest conditions.
Planting dates for 2019 were slightly
delayed for most of Wisconsin's seed
potato acres (7-10 days). It was a cool, wet
April and early May due in part to record
snow cover across Northern Wisconsin,
where an excess of 48 inches of snowpack
was to melt and infiltrate. Spring rain
also contributed to planting delays, but
the bulk of the crop was planted within
the normal window for spring planting
in the seed area.
A total of 9,243 acres were planted for
certified seed potatoes, approximately
1% less than 2018. The top Wisconsin
varieties in certification were:
* Frito Lay varieties, 2,285 acres
* Silverton Russet, 847 acres
* Lamoka, 830 acres
* Snowden, 712 acres
* Atlantic, 662 acres
* Red Norland selections, 841 acres
Varieties with increasing grower
interest over the past three seasons
include
Lamoka
Manistee
Lady Liberty
Caribou Russet
Red Prairie
2017 2018 2019
660
62
4
1
18
733 831
157 222
31 112
70
44
14
28
Others notables include Little Potato
Company varieties and UW potato
breeding program clones: W8893-1Red,
W9433-1rus and 9133-1rus.
The growing season was much
cooler than recent years with regular
precipitation. Much of the crop is
under pivot these days to fill in a few
gaps in rainfall that were experienced
during the growing season. Vine
health was excellent and abundant
given the conditions potatoes love to
grow in. No late blight was detected
in certification inspections. Summer
visual certification inspection
outcomes were excellent for growers,
with only one seed lot rejected for
admixture, representing just an acre.
All Wisconsin seed that is recertified
within Wisconsin's seed program is
both visually inspected and ELISA
tested at the Hawaii grow-out.
Bulking was delayed for many
varieties with vine-kill dates being
pushed further towards fall by 7-10
days based on the calendar. With later
vine kill, seed potato harvest started
later for many growers, with significant
and frequent rain events in September
and October creating extremely
challenging field conditions. Despite
this, the volume and quality of
potatoes harvested has remained high,
and we are expecting no adverse freeze
events to affect the crop before harvest
is complete.
Wisconsin welcomed Renee Rioux as
the seed potato program administrative
director with faculty research/teaching
appointment in the Department of
Plant Pathology at UW-Madison. We
are looking forward to her seed research
and its impact, both in Wisconsin and
nationally.
- Alex Crockford, program director,
Wisconsin Seed Potato Program
Spudman's 2019 state seed report was
compiled by managing editor Zeke
Jennings
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Spudman * November/December 2019
19
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November/December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2019
