Section 21.15. Potato late blight.

 

(1)   Definitions. In this section:

(a) "Cull pile" means a waste pile of harvested potatoes and includes seed cutting slivers and waste, storage remnants, and sweepings.

(b) "Late blight" means the fungal disease Phytophthora infestans .

(c) "Volunteer potato plants" means potato plants that germinate in places where they were not intentionally planted during the current calendar year, or that germinate from cull potatoes spread on land.

(2)   Disposing of cull piles. A person who owns or controls land on which potato cull piles are located shall dispose of those cull piles by May 20 of each year by one of the following methods:

(a) By feeding the cull potatoes to livestock so that they are completely consumed by May 20.

(b) By spreading the cull potatoes on fields and incorporating the cull potatoes into the soil.

(c) By depositing the cull potatoes in a licensed landfill with the written permission of the landfill operator.

(d) By another method which the department approves in writing.

(3)   Controlling volunteer potato plants. Whenever volunteer potato plants appear on land, the person who owns or controls that land shall immediately remove or kill those volunteer potato plants. Pesticides used to kill volunteer potato plants shall be labeled for the crop in which the volunteer plants emerge, or for the site at which they emerge.

(4)   Enforcement.

(a) The department may issue pest quarantine and abatement orders under ss. 94.01 and 94.02 , Stats., and s. ATCP 21.03 , to prevent or control late blight infestations, or to remedy violations of this section.

(b) If the department finds any field infested with late blight, the department may order the person owning or controlling that field to treat it, in a manner specified by the department, in order to control or eliminate the infestation. Treatment may include pesticide applications specified by the department.

(c) The department may order the destruction of a potato crop infested with late blight if the department finds that alternative measures will not adequately prevent or mitigate the spread of late blight.

(d) The department may seek to prosecute violations of this section under s. 94.77 , Stats.

Emerg. cr. eff. 5-1-96; cr. Register, April, 1997, No. 496 , eff. 5-1-97.

Note

The University of Wisconsin-Extension plant pathology and horticulture departments have developed integrated pest management procedures (IPM) that help protect against late blight. Growers are urged to follow these IPM procedures. IPM procedures and late blight forecasting information are available from the UW-extension county agricultural agent, or through a UW-extension computer program called the potato disease management plan under WISDOM. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1