Control of silver scurf (Helminthosporium solani) disease of potato with benomyl and thiabendazole

SUMMARY Benomyl and thiabendazole, applied as dusts to seed potatoes before chitting (sprouting), reduced the incidence of silver scurf disease on the progeny at lifting and during subsequent storage. Treatment of seed tubers 4 months prior to planting almost completely suppressed sporulation during storage, even under conditions very favourable for the growth of the fungus. The fungicides appeared not to act systemically because developing tubers grown from treated seed were just as susceptible to infection after inoculation as those from untreated. Control was due to effective inhibition of sporulation on the surface of diseased seed tubers after planting. There was no reduction in the amount of disease in subsequent generations of potato crops without further fungicidal treatment. Seed virtually free from silver scurf, produced from seed treated with fungicide in the previous year, yielded progeny with as much disease as progeny from untreated seed stocks.