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Old March 21, 2020   #3
NathanP
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: RI
Posts: 183
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Scab resistance in potatoes is a very limited and relative trait that hinges on factors often outside the control of the grower. There is really no true 'resistance', just differences in susceptibility.



The easiest way to avoid scab involves two things that can be somewhat controlled. Keeping soil pH low, and rotating crops on a rotation no shorter than 5 years, and often 7 years or longer. Though if your soil naturally harbors scab causing bacteria, then even rotation may not be likely to help much. Many soils naturally harbor such bacteria regardless of whether you are growing potatoes or not.

There are a number of scab resistant potatoes available commercially, but it is unclear to me how available they are to home growers or small scale farmers. There are probably many online lists purporting potatoes that are scab resistant. I would host such lists in question without documentation in the form of white papers or other published material from potato breeding programs, otherwise it is probably just anecdotal or subjective information based on information that is too limited to be useful broadly to most people.
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