Project Description
In 2021 we were contacted by potato farmers on the Isle of Jersey who want to see if pyroligneous acid can have any positive effect mitigating potato cyst nematode that plagues the growers there. The Isle of Jersey, one of the channel isles near France, is home to the Jersey Royal Potato. In fact, the Jersey Royal Potato is only grown on the Isle of Jersey and nowhere else in the world.
After a zoom call, we set up a greenhouse trial with one of the growers. The trial was set to begin in December 2021. The trial design included 2 treatment groups and one control group. Each group comprised 4 rows of potatoes.
Treatment Group #1 used pyroligneous acid, foliar sprayed into the furrow after the germinated potatoes were placed. Treatment Group #2 used pyroligneous acid, amended with ingredients formulated by GreenQuest, foliar sprayed into the furrow after the germinated potatoes were placed.
The trials are ongoing at the time of this writing. So far, based on feedback from the grower, both treatment groups look better than the control plants. We will need to wait until harvest to determine how the treatment groups performed, relative to the total harvest and the marketable portion.