2025 Miller Research Potato Pest Management Seminar

This year is the 50^th anniversary for Miller Research! Come celebrate with us at our annual Potato Disease Management Seminar.

The meeting will be held on February 18, 2025, at the Historic Wilson Theater in Rupert, ID. The meeting will run from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM with a 20-minute break at 10:40 AM. Three CCA credits (Integrated Pest management) and three ID pesticide credits have been awarded. The meeting will be in-person this year and we will not have a Zoom option.

Registration is $35 to cover the cost of the meeting. After covering meeting costs, additional proceeds will be donated to the local 4-H program.

Lunch will be provided.

Meeting agenda:

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: Registration

9:00 AM – 9:50 AM: Removing the Metam – Jeff Miller
Metam fumigation has been an effective method for managing Verticillium wilt and some nematode pests. This presentation will share the results of the first year of a project funded by the Northwest Potato Research Consortium looking at alternatives to metam sodium for reducing Verticillium and improving tuber yield and grade. The results of a 6-year soil health project will be shared where the use of compost and green manure crops were evaluated for their potential to replace metam sodium in a 2-year and 3-year potato rotation.

9:50 AM – 10:40 AM: Effective Fungicide Use for Managing Potato Disease – Trent Taysom
We will share results of fungicide and seed treatment efficacy from 2024 research trials aimed at managing foliar disease (early blight/brown spot), Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium dry rot.

 10:40 AM – 11:00 AM: Break

 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Beating the Bacteria – Trent Taysom
The Northwest Potato Research Consortium has funded a two-year study evaluating the effect of field treatments for the reduction of aerial stem rot (caused by Pectobacterium species). In this presentation we will share these results along with studies on the potential for tubers to soft rot when being washed for fresh pack.

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Black Dot: What Works and What Doesn’t – Jeff Miller
This presentation will share research on fungicide use for black dot control on both stems and tubers. We will discuss the relative importance of seed and soil-borne inoculum as it relates to effective disease control. The role of the black dot pathogen (Colletotrichum coccodes) in the potato early dying complex will be discussed, along with the difficulties of managing the tuber phase of this disease.

12:00 PM: Lunch