Arable crops

Using Tech to Time Haulm Destruction

Potato haulm destruction is an important process. It stops the growth of tubers and promotes the hardening or "setting" of the potato skins as they fully mature. A well-set skin is crucial for preventing damage during harvesting/handling and for extending the storage life of the potatoes.

Other important aspects of haulm destruction are to control the spread of disease (late blight in particular) from leaves to tubers and to generally make harvesting easier by reducing the potential for clogging machinery.

Properly timed haulm destruction ensures that the tubers reach their full potential in size and weight without the risk of overgrowth or disease - helping maximise marketable yield. However, if done too early, haulm destruction can have the opposite effect by reducing the potential yield, as the tubers might not have reached their full size.

Quality is also affected by the destruction process with the already mentioned improvements in skin finish, but also improvements in dry matter content and reduction of the risk of certain defects such as hollow heart or internal browning.

With loss of some chemical options a blend of both mechanical and chemical destruction is often required. However, there is increasing concern over chemical residues and environmental impacts, therefore if we can be smarter about how we use them we can help to reduce this.

The Yara N-Sensor can be used to variably apply desiccant to the crop, this will put more on areas that are greener and require a bit more chemical help and less on areas that are already senescing naturally.

If you are flailing then spraying, or you don't have access to an N-Sensor, you can utilise Yara’s Atfarm. Atfarm enables you to see an NDVI+ map to help judge which areas will require more or less chemical, determined by the biomass and colour of the crop. This will enable you, to make a more informed decision than a blanket application across the whole field.

Variable desiccation leads to even destruction of the crop, better use-efficiency of the desiccant and overall evenness of harvest. Overall enabling you to make a more informed decision than a blanket application across the whole field.