BlueN™ delivers ‘unbelievable’ results for Doncaster farmer
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Doncaster farmer Andrew Houghton admits he was sceptical before trying biologicals for the first time but is now a convert after seeing significant increases in yield.
E W Houghton & Sons grow 5-600 acres of potatoes every year, which they sell to Walkers. Under pressure to reduce their carbon footprint and keen to boost yields, Andrew agreed to trial BlueN on two varieties of potatoes: Punchy and Arsenal.
“I decided to try BlueN because it looked promising,” Andrew says. “However, I’d never used a biological product before, so I was a bit sceptical.
“We didn’t have any problems with quality before, but processing potatoes never yield particularly well.”
The trials were conducted in the middle of a field, so the area was treated exactly the same as the rest of the field, the only difference being a 333g/Ha application of BlueN on 13 June.
BlueN was applied at growth stage GS 51-55 when flower buds were present, before being harvested on 5 September.
“Overall, the Punchy trial area delivered bigger yields and fewer smaller potatoes,” Andrew says.
Whereas the untreated crop delivered 46.07T/ha, the area treated with BlueN yielded 59.33T/ha – a yield increase of 13.26T/ha.
Arsenal delivered a slightly smaller, but still tangible, yield increase. The untreated plot delivered 53.37T/ha, whereas the area treated with BlueN yielded 58.42T/ha – an increase of 5.05T/ha.
“We have to be very careful because nitrogen does affect the quality – it lowers the dry matter. However, BlueN didn’t,” Andrew adds. “And it didn’t alter the fry colour, so we were very pleased with it.”
Andrew was particularly pleased with the results considering the poor weather conditions the farm was forced to contend with last year.
“I will use BlueN again this year,” he adds. “It seems unbelievable that you can apply it to the crops and then they can use nitrogen from the atmosphere. It will be interesting to see what difference it makes if we have better conditions this year as well.”
