Irrigation Assists Potato Growing On Light Country

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28888, 7 May 1959, Page 7

Irrigation Assists Potato Growing On Light Country

Judging from the results of a recent irrigation trial on potatoes, there appeared to be a big potential for potato production in the Ashburton County where irrigation schemes were available,’ said Mr B. Lauder, the instructor to the Department of Agriculture at Ashburton yesterday. It was the first irrigation trial ever to be carried out in the county by the department and many months of work have been involved. The potatoes were planted in medium to light soil, or the type better known as the Lismore stoney silt loam. The trial was carried out in a paddock that had been in pasture for seven years and had received a liberal application of lime and superphosphate during that time.

Last June, the paddock was ploughed for a swede crop but the owner allowed the department to use a section of the land for the trial. “After it was ploughed, the paddock got a good deal of work until the time the potatoes were planted,” said Mr Lauder, adding that the soil was in excellent order.

Four plots were prepared where four varieties—Aucklander Short Top, Dakota, Sebago, and Glen Ham—were to be planted twice in each plot. Two plots would be watered three times, and the other two only once. The ground was ridged up on November 4, fertiliser consisting of a three to one mixture of superphosphate and sulphate of ammonia was applied the next day, and on November 7, the seed potatoes were planted by hand. First Irrigation Inter-row cultivation was carried out only once during the trial—on December 4—and the potatoes were moulded up on December 22.

The first irrigation was applied on December 31 to all the four plots, when the Aucklander Short Top and Dakota plants were in bud. and the Glen Ham and Sebago varieties were nearing the flowering stage.

However, only two plots were watered on January 15. When this was done, the Aucklander Short Top and Dakota plants were about 50 per cent, in flower, and the other two varieties had reached the full flowering period. These two plots received their final watering on January 30 when flowering was practically finished. “But there was a tendency for - the flowering to continue in the plots that had received the three irrigations,” said Mr Lauder. «

He explained that there had been some very hot days towards the end of January and some of

the plants had wilted with the heat. “But this was more noticeable in the two plots that had only been watered once,” he said. Yields About five inches of water was applied to the plots each watering, he said. The rows* were irrigated by the water flowing along the centre of them, but the plants were not flooded.

Yields obtained during the trial are as follows, the first figures being those for one irrigation and those in parenthesis where three irrigations were made:—

Aucklander Short Top, 10 tons per acre (11.5 tons). Dakota, 12.5 tons (16 tons). Sebago, 11.5 tons (13.5 tons). Glen Ham. 14.5 tons (17.5 tons).

Mr Lauder said the department had arranged for a cooking test of samples from the trial and this would be carried out at the Home Science School of the University of Otago some time soon. “The yields obtained from the trial are comparable with yields on heavy ground where potatoes are normally grown,” said Mr Lauder. He added, however, that several trials would have to be made before any definite indication of the benefits of irrigation could be obtained.