Ensure that your seed potatoes will not create a future problem for both you and your seed supplier. Use good farm hygiene.

FARM HYGIENE

Machinery should be cleaned free of dirt when moving between paddocks.   If you share machinery it should be thoroughly cleaned before leaving each property.   Try to eliminate self-sown or volunteer potatoes from paddocks.   All people walking into crops should have clean boots.   Don't leave dumps of old potatoes on the farm. These will regrow and  continue the disease cycle.   Don't dump waste potatoes back into a potato paddock. Consider erecting a Farm Hygiene sign at your front gate asking people  not to bring dirty machinery, plant debris or soil onto your farm. Signs  show the world that you are serious about farm hygiene.

Good farm hygiene is fundamental to the success and profitability of potato growing.

Victorian certified seed potato growers will only accept clean bins.   Use of secondhand bins for seed is acceptable provided that they have been thoroughly cleaned and are accompanied by a Bin Cleanliness Declaration form. These forms are available from your seedgrower or merchant.   All machinery should be clean and free from dirt when it enters and leaves the farm.   Soil carried on machinery can carry weed seeds, diseases such as powdery scab and PCN, and pests such as white fringed weevil.

The use of secondhand bins for seed is acceptable provided that they have been thoroughly cleaned and are accompanied by a Bin Cleanliness Declaration form. These forms are available from your seed grower or merchant.