Michigan Administrative Code › Department - Agriculture and Rural Development › Pesticide and Plant Pesticide Management Division › RegulationNo 628 - Seed Potato Certificate › Section R. 285.628.4 - Conditions for certification

Current through Vol. 24-12, July 15, 2024
Rule 4.
(1) A seed
				lot that is eligible for certification shall not be certified if any of the
				following conditions exist:
(a) Less than all
				of the acreage of potatoes grown by the applicant is planted to foundation or
				certified seed that meets Michigan standards and entered for
				inspection.
(b) The seed lot is
				planted less than 5 feet from other potatoes that are part of the certification
				program or less than 50 feet from other potatoes that are not part of a
				certification program.
(c) The seed
				lot is grown in a field in which weeds, insect injury, spray damage, disease,
				or any other factor that prevents the adequate inspection or production of
				certifiable seed potatoes is present.
(d) The seed lot is planted on land used for
				commercial potato production or that has been exposed to infection from
				bacterial ring rot during the preceding 2 growing seasons.
(e) The seed lot has been exposed to
				bacterial ring rot infection before, during, or after harvest.
(f) The seed lot is stored, graded, or
				handled in storage facilities that contain potatoes that were not
				field-inspected or potatoes that were rejected for the presence of bacterial
				ring rot.
(g) Severe foliar
				diseases including late blight, early blight, and wilt diseases such as
				verticillium, blackleg, and fusarium; frost injury, or any other condition that
				renders the seed lot undesirable for use as seed is present.
(h) Bacterial ring rot is present in a seed
				lot in the operation. All seed stocks of that lot are to be removed from the
				operation. All equipment and facilities that may have come in contact with this
				seed shall be cleaned and disinfected. The first lot of seed cut or planted, or
				cut and planted, after the infected lot is not certifiable and is not eligible
				for sale as certified seed for 1 growing season. These lots may be retained in
				the operation in the certified inspection system and may be reentered as seed
				that is eligible for certification the following year if bacterial ring rot is
				not noted. The classification level for these lots shall be retained under the
				normal generation system as if they were eligible for certification. All other
				seed lots in the operation may be certified, but shall not be sold for future
				seed propagation for 1 growing season. All shipping and inspection documents
				for these lots that are sold during the first year after disease identification
				shall indicate that the seed is not to be used for seed propagation. If
				bacterial ring rot is detected in an operation in more than 1 seed lot in the
				same year or in 1 seed lot 2 of 3 consecutive years, then all seed stocks shall
				be removed from the operation and all equipment and facilities shall be cleaned
				and disinfected before further certification will be issued. If bacterial ring
				rot is detected in an operation in more than 1 seed lot in the same year or in
				1 seed lot 2 of 3 consecutive years or noncertified production occurred in the
				previous year of operation, then seed potatoes will not be approved for sale or
				transfer from the operation to other seed propagation operations for 2 growing
				seasons. Cutting and planting equipment is to be thoroughly cleaned and
				disinfected between lots and the disinfection shall be documented for future
				reference by the official seed-certifying agency. This documentation shall be
				part of the application for certification. Materials that are used to disinfect
				cutting and planting equipment shall be of a type labeled for bacterial disease
				control.
(i) Seed lots which are
				eligible for sale or transfer and which have not been winter-tested or
				laboratory-tested or for which a sample or samples have not been submitted for
				winter testing by an organization approved by the official seed-certifying
				agency or the Michigan department of agriculture.
(j) Bacterial ring rot-infected potatoes and
				other plant parts that might provide a source of contamination or cull potatoes
				from another location or farm are stored or disposed of at, or are introduced
				into, the operation.