90 to 95 per cent of Manitoba's potato crop is in the ground, with producers experiencing mostly good soil moisture conditions across the province.
That's according to Manitoba Agriculture plant pathologist Vikram Bisht, who says other than a few areas around Portage la Prairie, potato seeding is pretty much complete in the province.
"There were no wet issues, like we've had in previous years," he says, "and I think the temperatures and good moisture in the soil helped to make a good, early, speedy planting."
But while things have gone well for potato producers so far, Bisht speculates that European corn borer could be an issue this year because of the mild temperatures over the winter.
"Last year we had European corn borer issues in many of our fields, and I wonder — and I'm just speculating — that particular insect may have survived (the winter) and could be an issue," he says. "There is a long term forecast, I'm not sure how accurate it is, but there is a forecast of hot conditions during the main summer period, that would be July... July is when we have European corn borer potentially coming in a big way."
Source : Portageonline