Okay, it’s not really the calm before the storm but things were pretty quiet when we visited the Montana State University Potato Lab, located on the university campus in Bozeman, in May.
Later this month and continuing through parts of August, this place will be buzzing with activity as the lab will be very busy as research assistants and student workers will be testing not thousands, but millions of leaves taken from potato plants all across Montana’s seed potato growing areas. The lab, under the direction of Dr. Nina Zidack, who is director of MSU’s Potato Lab, will test upwards of 2 million leaves during that time, looking for viruses, particularly PVY.
Montana State University’s is responsible for testing all generation one potatoes. During our visit, the lab which had been cleaned and scrubbed in preparation for the potato leaves testing season, was an impressive sight.
For more information about the MSU Potato Lab, visit http://montanaspud.org/.