The effect of delay in treatment on the control of potato skin spot (Oospora pustulans)

A study has been made of the control of potato skin spot by surface disinfection of tubers and subsequent storage in sprouting boxes and by similar storage without disinfection at intervals from several weeks before normal harvest until twelve weeks after harvest. Efficiency of control depended on the date of harvest and was apparently associated with the temperature of the subsequent box storage. Under the conditions of these experiments, there was a progressive decrease in the effectiveness of disinfection corresponding to delay in treatment, eye infection increasing more rapidly than surface infection. Storing potatoes in sprouting boxes without disinfection was most successful when tubers were lifted before normal harvest but was never so effective as when combined with disinfection and did not provide a reliable control of disease development in these experiments. Sporulation of the fungus on the eyes was largely inhibited by disinfection at any time whereas extensive sporulation occurred on both dead and living eyes of untreated boxed tubers.