Late Blight Blog 2021

Welcome to the Eurofins Agroscience Services Late Blight Demonstration Event Blog 2021. Keep checking in as we keep you up to date with progress of the platform site and a sneak preview of all of the hard work which goes on behind the scenes in order to make this event happen!

This year the trials site has over 750 plots demonstrating a vast range of actives/management strategies for Late Blight; to date still the single most important disease facing the potato industry.

The Late Blight block hosts trial plots on the cultivar Melody for a range of manufacturers and Agronomy firms; In addition this year we have a few variety plots on site showcasing varietal resistance to the disease. We also have a block of Maris Piper used for registration trials – gathering vital data for our clients to submit their Biological Assessment Dossiers.

Also this year we will have a range of other potato trials, looking at various other aspects of potato production. Following the success of our event last year despite the difficulties of hosting a scaled back event in a pandemic; we hope that the event this year is bigger and better than ever!

If you want to know more get in touch with Megan Edmonds for more details.

Harvest and Assessment

Posted 02/11/2021

Harvest on the Late Blight 2021 trial plots has now been completed in Derbyshire. Over 700 individual plots have been lifted, bagged and brought back to the main facility in Wilson, Derbyshire for post-harvest assessments. Check back for more info on the post-harvest assessments we conduct.

For more information and to register your interest for Late Blight 2022, get in contact with @MegEdmonds

#blight #potatoes #blightopenday2021

Week 11 - Demonstration Day!

Posted 25/08/2021

It has been a fantastic day at the Eurofins Agroscience Services Blight Open Day 2021. We have welcomed over 150 visitors to the event, who had a great time touring plots from the 16 clients. Plenty of hot topics were being discussed and it was interesting to see how the products & programmes have been put in the spotlight under extreme blight pressure.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to making the event such a success!

Week 11 - Demonstration Week

Posted 23/08/2021

Event week is upon us!

The team are busy putting the finishing touches in place ready for the event on Wednesday and the plots are looking fantastic with good levels of disease across the site. It is not too late to register for the event – if you are interested in attending drop a message to Meg Edmonds and she will be able to send you an invite.

Week 10 - Assessment

Posted 18/08/2021

We are now one week out from the Demonstration event, the team are busy getting the plots prepared for our exhibitors; the event will see trials tours on a range of plots. The main bulk of the site is dedicated to Potato Late Blight work, but this year we also have plots from some of the seed breeders and a Fertiliser/Bio-stimulant area. Our core crew of EAS staff from the field and engineering teams will be working hard over the coming days to ensure the site is looking tip top for the day - fingers crossed for good weather. If you are interested in attending the event, please contact the event organiser Meg Edmonds for an invitation.

Posted 10/08/2021

Do you know the level of preparation that goes into one of Europe's largest demonstration platforms?

See our infographic below

Week 9 - Applications and Disease update

Posted 27/07/2021

We are into week 5 of applications at the Late Blight Demonstration Site and the inoculation made on the 7th July has successfully established. We already have good levels of disease in the untreated plots. The recent hot weather matched with our on-site irrigation system to supplement natural rainfall has meant rapid development of the disease.

Get in touch with Meg Edmonds for more information

Week 7 - Inoculation and Bulking

Posted 11/06/2021

This week, at our Late Blight Platform Demonstration Site in Derbyshire, UK, we are inoculating our trials with Late Blight (Phytophthora infestans) following weeks of careful preparation.

The trial plots are laid out with 2m infector rows at each end to ensure even establishment of the disease. The process for bulking up infected material started 6 weeks ago - upon receipt of Agar spore plates, our Molecular Diagnostics team has been working hard to scale up the solutions ready for the field team to inoculate the trials. We ensure that in-crop humidity is perfect for the disease to take by using a bespoke irrigation system, conducting inoculation late in the evening to maximise the chances of success in the field.

Week 6 - Irrigation

Posted 11/06/2021

This week the team from engineering have been laying out the irrigation system over the plots. With over 4,500 meters of irrigation pipe to lay out and over 500 individual stanchions; this is no easy task. We use a combination sprinkler/ misting irrigation system set up on a 9m by 9m lattice to maximise coverage of the plots. We can then frequently irrigate to maintain in crop-humidity and artificially create the best conditions for Late Blight to develop.

Week 5 - Marking Out

Posted 08/06/2021

Planting at our Late Blight Platform Demo Site in Barrow Upon Trent has been completed and the engineering team have now applied the pre-emergence herbicides to the site to keep the weeds in check. The field team are now starting the task of marking out all of the plots. We use fiberglass canes to mark the plots & infector rows at the site. This year we will be putting over 1000 canes in the ground to mark the 900+ plots on this platform site

Week 4 - Lancashire Late Blight Platform Site

Posted 03/06/2021

Following a break in the weather at our Lancashire Late Blight Platform site, the team have rallied up North to get this site planted as the soil is still not perfect for finishing up the Derbyshire plots. The team will be in over the weekend to get the last of the tubers in the ground, and the pre-emergence herbicides will be applied this week on the trials which are already in the ground.

Week 3 - Planting

Posted 27/05/2021

This week we have finished planting up the main bulk of the trials, following some long awaited rainfall & warmer temperatures. Over 12,000 seed tubers were planted across the site, with various varieties, the main bulk of which is Melody and Maris Piper which have a susceptibility to Late Blight; making them ideal to demonstrate the efficacy of products against the disease. Rain has stopped play for this week, but with only a small number of trials left to plant the team are prepped ready to plant as soon as conditions allow.

Week 2 - Bedforming

Posted 21/05/2021

At our Late Blight platform in Derbyshire, UK, this week we have been busy preparing all of the beds ready for planting to begin

The image here shows the Tillerstar in action which is the equipment we use for de-stoning and bed-forming ( thanks @georgemoateuk https://www.linkedin.com/company/georgemoateuk) . Our team have picked up the tubers from the cold-store and have made a start to the planting campaign. The platform, managed by @MeganEdmonds features over 950 plots on the site this year! It has taken months of planning to get things just right for the event, tubers were ordered back in March, and every single spray pathway & irrigation line is planned down to exact measurements using our GPS system.

Week 1 - Pre-bedforming

Posted 12/06/2021

The hard work has started on the Eurofins Agroscience Services Late Blight platform in Derbyshire, UK; managed by Megan Edmonds.

The UK field team are proud to deliver one of Europe's largest potato blight demonstration platforms.

Here you see the first cultivations have been made, with seed bed fertiliser being applied today ahead of bed-forming.

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