Mint oil has been used successfully in the pre-pack sector in the UK to control sprouting. Its use in warmer storage this season is generally new, according to a news article published by AHDB.
Recently, there have been a few reports of product build-up in its liquid form on crops in processing stores in Britain, leading to some localised issues. The key to the effectiveness of mint oil is to keep the active as a fog during application.
AHDB provides some tips to help potato growers and storage managers achieve this.
Spearmint oil has been used for a number of years already in the industry, in particular for the fresh-pack market. The take-up has been relatively more recent for the processing sector and this season, there have been reports of build-up of the active in its liquid form. In extreme cases, this has led to store breakdowns as result of prolonged high-speed fan use.
It starts with keeping the crop dry
Mint oil is applied to the crop as a hot fog. In the presence of residual moisture on the crop however, this mint hot fog can
