Varieties must meet the approval of the certifying agency to be eligible for certification.

Seed potatoes shall not be planted on land where ring rot infected potatoes were produced the previous year.

Fields for inspection must be separated from each other and from other potatoes by a vacant space of at least one planting row; six feet is recommended.

Any portion of a field entered for certification which is within 200 feet of potatoes showing 10 percent or more virus disease or more than five percent leaf roll, will be rejected.

(e) Seed grown on farms where bacterial ring rot is found during the current or previous season is not eligible for designation as “Certified-Uihlein Generation 1,” “Certified-Uihlein Generation 2,” or “Certified-Uihlein Generation 3.”

Field and bin inspections shall be conducted on the basis of a visual observation of sample plants and tubers under growing conditions and during storage. A minimum of two field inspections shall be made during the growing season with a visual examination being made of a minimum of 100 plants for each planted acre. Inspections of bins and storage areas shall include a visual inspection of at least 100 stored tubers from each harvested acre. Certification shall not extend to diseases which cannot be observed on the basis of a visual inspection of plants and tubers.

Fields are to be kept rogued and are subject to inspection at any time. Upon inspection seed lots shall show not more than the following tolerances:

Seed lots which comply with the provisions of this standard and which are found by inspection of an adequate representative sample to contain no more than the specified tolerance of plants or tubers showing visible symptoms of the diseases and defects mentioned will be approved for certification; however, no assurance is implied that these diseases and defects may not be present in a latent form or in greater amounts or even that the inspection of larger samples might not reveal the presence of amounts in excess of stated tolerances. Furthermore, with special reference to ring rot, certification implies that both the growing crop and the harvested lot have been inspected and that no evidence of ring rot has been found, but does not imply that the lot is absolutely free from this disease. Precautions always should be taken to guard against the increase or spread of this disease.

The grower is responsible for roguing all diseased and abnormal plants that appear during the growing season. Early removal is extremely important in preventing the spread of virus diseases; both the vines and tubers should be carried from the field.

One or more representative samples from each seed lot shall be submitted from each field for planting in the Florida test plot. The number of tubers required to be submitted per sample shall be determined by the certifying agency. Tubers selected for the Florida test shall not be smaller than 1 ½ inches nor larger than 2 ¼ inches. Florida test results shall not show a total in excess of five percent virus (mosaics, leaf roll, other virus) and spindle tuber viroid. Seed potatoes shipped before winter test readings are available will be certified if field, harvest and/or bin readings are within required tolerances.

The certifying agency may deny certification to any field or seed lot which, in its opinion, would be likely to produce potatoes unsuitable for certified seed stock. Consideration for denial may be given to unfavorable factors, such as unsuitable cultural conditions, weeds, chemical damage and high aphid population.