Bayer has started to advise  growers on building healthy potato plants. The company explains that is doesn’t matter how healthy the plants look in a potato field, the power “is in the ground and the proof is in the digging.” That’s why potato growers list root protection as a top priority, the company says.

“The top of the plant doesn’t make you any money. It’s all beneath the soil. Roots are important. You have to have a strong base before you can even create a crop,” said Drew Nielsen, Bayer customer business advisor.

Creating a strong base starts with reducing pressure from nematodes. U.S. Department of Agriculture research shows nematodes can cause as much as a 90% reduction in potato yield.

In Washington State, Michael Hubbard of Hubbard Ag Science, sees the damage and yield impact of nematodes, primarily Meloidogyne chitwoodi, or root-knot nematode, and the lesion nematode, which has been at the forefront of recent research because it plays a role in early dying complex.

“Basically, it’s a component of yield. You can see some reduction in root mass with root-lesion nematodes, but mostly we see a yield component when we have high levels of root-lesion nematode,” Hubbard said.

With the 2019 crop, growers have more options than ever before for protecting those roots. Managing nematodes—the most economically damaging below-ground pest, both at-plant and in-season—is essential to maximizing water and nutrient uptake and minimizing risk of disease. Growers who manage nematodes also suppress pressure from opportunistic diseases that otherwise would move in through nematode-wounded roots.