Alabama Administrative Code › Title 80 - ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIES › MARKETING › Chapter 80-10-2 - CERTIFICATION OF SWEET POTATO SEED AND SWEET POTATO PLANTS › Section 80-10-2-.04 - Certification Of Sweet Potato Seed And Sweet Potato Plants

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) The term Alabama Certified shall have
				reference to the sweet potato seed and sweet potato plants meeting the
				requirements for certification as provided herein.
(2) Certified sweet potato seed and sweet
				potato plants will be those found to be apparently free of pests in the field,
				plant bed, and in storage. Certification will be denied for sweet potato seed
				and sweet potato plants in which pest problems are detected which present a
				potential hazard to the sweet potato industry and which cannot be adequately
				cleaned up to the satisfaction of the commissioner.
(3) Standards for certification shall include
				no apparent stem rot, black rot, mosaic, sweet potato weevils, pox, mixed
				varieties, or mutations and only one percent (1%) nematodes or scurf will be
				allowed.
(4) No sweet potato seed
				certification tags will be issued to a grower unless two (2) or more
				satisfactory inspections of his stock have been made--at least one (1) field
				inspection and at least one (1) storage inspection. In addition, plants must
				pass at least two (2) plant-bed inspections before sweet potato plant
				certificate tape and sweet potato plant certificate tags can be issued.
				Certificate tags and tape required herein shall be furnished by the
				commissioner at a reasonable cost.
(5) The commissioner reserves the right to
				revoke certification and to recall all outstanding certificate tags and tape
				for failure to comply with these regulations, for misuse of tags or tape, or
				upon finding pests in fields, storage, plant beds, or sales outlets.
(6)
(a) All
				fields subject to certification must be identified by the agent of the
				Commissioner or Agriculture in a clean state of cultivation and otherwise
				amenable to inspection. Inspection will not be conducted for fields of mixed
				varieties, fields considered to be too overgrown with weeds, nor fields not
				readily accessible to inspection. One (1) field inspection will be required for
				sweet potato varieties that are known to be highly resistant to stem rot. Two
				(2) field inspections, not less than fifteen (15) days apart, will be required
				for varieties susceptible to stem rot. Each field subject to certification must
				be inspected and trapped at the rate of 1 (one) trap per 10 (ten) acres.
				Certified plants produced from certified seed must be used in order to be
				eligible for certification. A 50 foot barrier must be maintained around each
				field that is to be certified.
(b)
				The sweet potato producer shall be responsible for rogueing fields of off
				types, mutations, intermixed varieties, as well as stem rot and mosaic infected
				plants.
(c) Sweet potato producers
				shall be required to report to the commissioner all detections of sweet potato
				weevils, black rot and other serious pests of sweet potatoes upon
				detection.
(d) Sweet potato
				producers are encouraged to use pest control recommendations in the field
				provided by the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, or other effective,
				properly labeled pesticides which may be available.
(e) All sweet potato seed must be produced
				from transplanted sprouts cut from the plant bed or from vine cuttings;
				however, sweet potato seed may be produced from sprouts pulled from the plant
				bed if such are treated with approved pesticides prior to planting.