Page 31 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2022

can harbour. These include the tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV).
Growers in the UK are so concerned about the devastating economic consequences of a ToBRFV outbreak that most insist visitors to their glasshouses are covered from head to toe
commercially in my West Sussex area
and every year around August one of our team takes river water samples, testing for brown rot. He or she travels to whichever river has been designated for testing at the same time on the same day for four weeks
(and hands) in disposable
protective overalls. When
Plant Health does its
annual inspections testing
for virus and other pests
and diseases, we arrive
with as many staff as the
grower has glasshouses.
We each inspect one house
only so there is no chance
of spreading anything.
Importing Solanaceae
seeds, including the slightly
obscure tamarillo [Solanum
betaceum] and Cape gooseberry [Physalis peruviana]), comes fraught with danger for our biosecurity.
Unfortunately, some significant pathogens were accidentally imported several years ago and have now gained a foothold, for example the potato brown rot bacterium (Ralstonia solanacearum), whose spread through waterways we are trying to restrict. Potatoes are grown
– giving many passers-
by the chance to wonder what we’re doing. The river samples are sent next-day delivery to laboratories in Sand Hutton, near York,
for testing. Because of the nature of the tests, the water samples must reach the lab by noon the next day.
Which brings us on to planting of seed v shop- bought ware potatoes. By the time it is harvested, a ware potato will be carrying
many diseases. Many are latent (non- symptomatic). The potatoes are perfectly safe to eat, but if you plant them in your allotment or garden, the chances are high that the yield will not be as good, and you’ll be introducing those bacteria and viruses to your soil where they can build up and affect subsequent crops.
Seed potatoes are grown in controlled conditions and are rigorously tested and
We each inspect one house only so there is no chance of spreading anything.
Olive trees main genus in Southern Italy
inspected. Plant Health inspectors trained in the Seed Potato Classification Scheme test soils for potato cyst nematodes (Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida) and regularly carry out inspections on the growing crop for viruses, whether they’re true to type and to detect diseases and pests such as the potato flea beetle (Epitrix sp.), which is present in Spain and Portugal.
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