Potato Scab
Categories:
Vegetable Growing
Can potatoes be treated in any way before planting to prevent the new
ones from being what is called "scabby"?
There are two successful treatments for scab in potatoes. One is dipping
in a solution of corrosive sublimate. Dissolve one ounce in eight
gallons of water and soak the seed potatoes in this solution for one and
one-half hours before cutting. This treatment kills the scab spores
which may be upon the exterior of the potatoes. More recently, however,
to avoid danger in handling such a rank poison as corrosive sublimate,
formaldehyde has been used, and one pint of commercial formaldehyde, as
it is bought in the stores, is diluted with thirty gallons of water, and
potatoes are soaked in this for two hours. Thirty gallons of this dip
ought to treat about fifty bushels of potatoes.