The effect of tillage practices on the yield of Irish cobbler potatoes

Summary

• 1 Various types of tillage implements including the killifer sub-soil chisel, the jostler subsoil cultivator, the TNT subsoil plow, the conventional moldboard plow and the disk harrow were evaluated as to their influence on the yield of Irish Cobbler potatoes over a four-year period.

• 2 Disking only consistently reduced the yield of potatoes compared to plowing, or TNT plowing.

• 3 The only significant effects of killifer treatments was a reduction in yield of potatoes when the frequency and intensity were too great.

• 4 Except for 1949 there was no significant increase in yield by irrigation.

• 5 Annual killifer treatments seemed to be more beneficial when combined with irrigation and TNT plowing than killifering once in four years.

• 6 More studies regarding the economics of deep tillage operations in the Northeast need to be conducted.