The effect of date of planting on the yield of potatoes

Abstract

Evidence obtained in the Agricultural Improvement Council Survey of Maincrop Potatoes 1948–50 and in experiments shows that yields in England and Wales are decreased by delay in planting after about 11 April at the rate of about 0·4 tons per acre per week. The effect is rather greater in years with fine springs, and on high-yielding fields. In Rothamsted experiments the responses to dung and fertilizers were all greatly reduced when planting was delayed; between early April and late May the effects of dung, nitrogen and phosphate were halved, while that of potash was reduced by about 80%. The evidence on the responses of different varieties to early planting in English experiments is contradictory, except for an indication that higher yielding varieties respond better. Data from Craibstone suggest that, if bulk yield is the only criterion, ‘early’ varieties which make rapid growth early in the season have a later optimum planting date than maincrop varieties. The effect of chitting seed at Craibstone is to increase yields by 1·7 tons per acre for March plantings, and by 2·5 tons per acre for plantings in mid-April and later. There is negligible loss of yield from sprouted seed at Craibstone for plantings delayed up to mid-April, but for unsprouted seed there is evidence of a gain from plantings a month earlier. Sprouted seed planted even as late as 1 May yielded as well as unsprouted planted two months earlier.