How should potatoes be remedied after herbicide damage?

The potato planting area has shown an upward trend year by year. If the rotation plot is chosen unreasonably, the residue of pesticides applied to the previous crop will cause herbicide damage problems in potatoes. So, what should be done about herbicide damage in potatoes?

1. What to do about herbicide damage in potatoes

1. Rinse with clean water or weakly alkaline water

For herbicide damage discovered earlier, spray a large amount of clean water immediately to rinse the crops, and try to wash and rinse the pesticide off the plant surface as much as possible. Or add an appropriate amount of 0.2% baking soda solution or 0.5%-1% lime water to the clean water to make it weakly alkaline, so as to speed up the decomposition of the pesticide. If the wrong soil treatment pesticide was used, carry out field drainage and water washing to remove the pesticide.

2. Quickly apply a supplementary fast-acting fertilizer

In the plot where herbicide damage has occurred, urea and other fast-acting fertilizers must be applied immediately as a top dressing to increase nutrients, strengthen the growth vigor of the crops, ensure early development, and guarantee the recovery ability of the crops.

3. Spray functional foliar fertilizer on the leaves

Spray the leaves with Acadia (natural seaweed extract) or Tianda 2116, etc., to promote rapid recovery and growth of the crops.

4. Use the opposite effects of certain pesticides to carry out rescue

For example, when herbicide damage occurs from paclobutrazol, gibberellin can be used to alleviate it; the former is a plant growth retardant, and the latter is a plant growth promoter.

2. Main causes of herbicide damage in potatoes

The occurrence of herbicide damage is mainly related to factors such as pesticide quality, application techniques, crops, and environmental conditions.

1. Pesticide-related causes

The pesticide-related causes include: excessive application, uneven application, or repeated application; improper mixing of pesticides, using two or more pesticides at the same time, and physical or chemical changes between pesticides causing increased toxicity; improper application methods, as some pesticides are safe when applied by the soil-powder method but prone to contact herbicide damage when applied by spraying, and some herbicides are prone to cause herbicide damage when applied to stems and leaves by ultra-low-volume spraying; pesticide drift, such as spraying 2,4-D in wheat fields and corn fields, which can cause herbicide damage to nearby potatoes; soil residues, such as the impact on potatoes from the use of paclobutrazol, atrazine, sulfonylurea herbicides, etc. on the previous crop; and some pesticides causing herbicide damage due to increased toxicity after the addition of surfactants.

Some pesticide microbial degradation products can cause crop herbicide damage; pesticides with similar trade names, containers, formulations, and colors may be misused and cause herbicide damage.

2. Crop and environmental factors

The reasons why crop and environmental factors cause herbicide damage are: arbitrarily expanding the scope of pesticide use, resulting in herbicide damage; different leaf ages and growth stages have differences in sensitivity to pesticides, and improper application timing, applying too early or too late, or applying when seedlings are weak, can all cause herbicide damage; different environmental conditions can change the sensitivity of potatoes to pesticides, and applying pesticides under conditions unfavorable to potato growth, such as applying pesticides on sandy soil, sprinkling the pesticide directly on seed potatoes, or extreme high temperatures or low temperatures during spraying and other harsh climatic conditions, may all cause herbicide damage.