Code of Maine Rules › 01 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION AND FORESTRY › 001 - AGRICULTURE - GENERAL › Chapter 600 - RULES REGARDING DISPOSAL OF CULL POTATO PILES › CULL POTATO DISPOSAL BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES › Section 001-600-4 - WARM WEATHER TEMPORARY CULL POTATO STORAGE BMP

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
This BMP provides acceptable procedures for the storage of
					 cull potatoes between the dates of March 1 and October 1 of the same year, when
					 tuber breakdown will or is likely to occur Cull potatoes placed in Warm Weather
					 Temporary Cull Potato Storages should be disposed of each fall, in accordance
					 with another cull potato disposal BMP (such as field spreading) Warm Weather
					 Temporary Cull Potato Storages must however, be emptied by March 1 of any year
					 following a year in which it was used between the dates of March 1 and October
					 1, with the cull potatoes being utilized (feed, starch source, etc) or disposed
					 of in accordance with another cull potato disposal BMP Cull potatoes can be
					 transferred from a Cold Weather Temporary Cull Potato Storage to a Warm Weather
					 Temporary Cull Potato Storage but not vise versa
Warm Weather Temporary Cull Potato Storage Site
					 Criteria
a. Warm Weather
				  Temporary Cull Potato Storages that are not completely self contained
				  (constructed in such a way that if any leachate is generated it will be
				  captured and will not be discharged to the soil) must be sited upon well
				  drained, deep (40 inches or more to the seasonal water table and bedrock),
				  non-sandy soils. This criteria can be met by natural conditions or by site
				  modification such as lowering the water table or adding fill.
b. Warm Weather Temporary Cull Potato
				  Storages that are self contained (where leachate will be generated but will not
				  be discharged to the soil) have no minimum soil conditions for siting.
Warm Weather Temporary Cull Potato Storage Covering
					 Criteria
: No cover material for Warm Weather Temporary Cull Potato
					 Storage is required from March 1 to June 10 (or from October 1 to March 1, if
					 used between those dates). From June 10 to October 1, all Warm Weather
					 Temporary Cull Storage piles shall immediately be covered (including the
					 unbermed side) in a manner so as to prevent potatoes from sprouting and
					 potentially spreading disease. Acceptable covering methods include, but are not
					 limited to a minimum of 6 inches of sawdust, 12 inches of soil, or 6 mill black
					 plastic polyethylene, all of which must completely cover the pile and, be
					 secured and remain in place.
Warm Weather Temporary Cull Potato Storage Setback
					 Criteria
: Warm Weather Cull Potato Storages must be set back a minimum
					 of 100 feet from neighboring dwellings, property lines, wells, springs, water
					 bodies, streams, gullies, swales, ravines and downslope diversions (those not
					 associated with construction of the storage site).
Warm Weather Temporary Cull Potato Storage Site
					 Construction Criteria
a. Warm
				  Weather Temporary Cull Potato Storages which are not self contained (discharge
				  to the soil) must be constructed in accordance with "Tuber Stockpile Compound"
				  , Maine Agricultural Experiment Station Miscellaneous Report 318. In addition,
				  the stockpile must be surrounded on three sides by an earthen, sawdust, haybale
				  or similar berm at least two feet in thickness and the downslope leachate trap
				  (ditch) must be constructed with a level lip spreader which outlets to a
				  vegetated buffer. When it is desirable to utilize nutrients in the leachate as
				  a soil amendment, or the storage site has soil and/or site limitations, culls
				  should be placed on a sawdust, or similar absorptive pad, 12 to 18 inches
				  thick. Sawdust can also be mixed with the culls as they are placed on the
				  storage site to further act as a leachate absorbent. When the culls are to be
				  used as a soil amendment they, along with the leachate saturated bulking agent,
				  shall be applied on the land in accordance with the Cull Potato Winter
				  Spreading BMP. This is because there may be tubers which have not broken down
				  and therefore pose a disease threat.
(
NOTE
: To maximize the soil amendment benefits
					 of the culls and bulking agent, they should be land applied in the fall and
					 incorporated into the soil).
b. Warm Weather Temporary Cull Potato
				  Storages which are self contained ( non discharge) have no minimum Site
				  Construction criteria.