Re: Re: OT-PLANTS: 'taters

George,  I was involved in 'tater research and production when in my
twenties--a LONG time ago--some forty years ago.  I'm now retired from my
"fourth career."

I agree on rotation--something we practiced with serious determination.  The
favored rotation crops from potatoes in the area where I was involved were
barley and alfalfa.  Part of the reasoning behind this had to do with a "green
manure" concept--when plowed under, the crops did build up the soil.  The
other aspect had to do with the integrated nature of the Simplot
enterprises--they mined phosphate ore, made fertilizer, sold fertilizer, used
fertilizer, grew potatoes, and fed the potato waste to cattle. The
conglomerate had cattle ranches (huge ones), where the potato effluents
(peelings taken off the potato with lye) were mixed with neutralizing
materials and with organics from the rotated crops, and so on.  "Utilization"
programs were carefully engineered so that *nothing* was wasted.

I spent part of my winters when not on the big ranches in the Caldwell (ID)
plant in the R&D section working on potato and, later, fruit products, and two
years learning cost accounting in another section where I got handed the books
for one of the divisions and learned the direct way--with a CPA over one
shoulder and the ranch management over the other.  Talk about learning under
pressure!  I loved it.  It was an enormous challenge, and I rose to the
occasion.

The mention of rotation is important--not only for disease control, but for
recovery time in the soils for the release of micronutrients from breakdown of
the small particulate matter in the soil.  Potatoes and irises feed on just
about the same things at the same rates--and succumb to some of the same
diseases.  We rarely hear about Fusarium infections in iris, but they do
happen--frequently.  So do Verticillium infections.  The rhizome fibres that
are the nutrient pipelines also become the pathways the fungi travel through.
The infections aren't fatal--just debilitating.  Likewise with the various
virus diseases.  Seedlings without the "pallida" virus resistance that Orville
Fay succeeded in breeding into the line leading to FLEETA and RIPPLING WATERS,
the same characteristics that give the "blue-green" pallida-look to
foliage--have a tendency to go down dramatically in quality.  They are
fabulous on the maiden bloom, and less so each year thereafter for two or
three years--then one can see the mottling in the leaves when a leaf blade is
held up to the light.  Most named irises have some degree of mottling from
viruses, but have enough resistance to thrive anyway.

Rotation helps maintain vigor in irises, and also helps avoid some of the more
pernicious diseases--including Erwinia soft rot, Botrytis, and some of the
ones I mention above.  The problem most of us have is we have no where to
rotate *to*--we're using all the ground we have, all the time.  Heavy feeding
with the right, well composted organics, micronutrients and lime ( applied so
it looks like snow per Barry Blyth ) help, but do not equal the value of
rotation with other plant materials such as those you mention that put
nutrients back in the soil.

Well, that was a long-winded way of saying, "Welcome!"  We're glad to have you
on the list, and those two horned seedlings out of several from HTB are useful
data.  How many bloomed from the cross?  (Roughly, if you don't have a
count).

Neil Mogensen  z 7 western NC

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