‘Humigator’ helps potatoes stay disease-free, not shrink

A local invention called a “humigator” is helping potato growers across the country have yearlong control over their potatoes. Garry Isaacs, the creator of the humigator, developed the first prototype in 1985. He said the name is a combination of the words humid and fumigator. Its primary function is to clean the air of potato storage sites, by doing so the pathogens known for inflicting diseases like silver scurf and black dot disease are taken out. Isaacs said this is an organic process accomplished without the use of chemicals. “Nobody has ever thought to remove the pathogens in the air until we came along,” he said. The technology does so by mimicking the natural process for rain. The humigator sucks in the air and blends it with a little water. It’s then brought to the machine’s tank and the clean humid air is released. While the humigator has helped many growers prevent diseases in their potatoes — it also helps preventing other things from happening from the vegetable. More