Certification

No sweet potato roots or tubers, vines, cuttings, draws, plants or slips shall be sold, offered for sale, held, or stored as certified stock unless they shall have been certified as being essentially free of insect pests and/or plant diseases by the Director of Entomology and Plant Pathology of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, or by a legally constituted agency designated for such purpose in other states, territories or countries. The requirements for certification of sweet potato roots or tubers, or vines, plants, cuttings, draws or slips in the State of Tennessee are as follows: (1) (a) All persons desiring certification of sweet potatoes shall make application to the Director of Entomology and Plant Pathology of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture as provided below. 1. Applicants requesting certification beginning with certified bedding stock shall make application on or before February 15 of each calendar year. 2. Applicants requesting certification beginning with certified plants, slips, vines or draws shall make application as soon as practicable, but at least two (2) weeks prior to planting date. (b) Only fields set from certified parent stock will be eligible for certification. Fields offered for certification may be from plants produced by the applicant from an approved certified seed source, or from certified plants secured from certified plant producers. (c) For bedding purposes only certified seed stock from an approved source will be eligible for certification. Applicants shall be required to furnish evidence that the seed potatoes used were, in fact, secured, from such approved source. (d) All seed used for bedding stock must be culled and treated at bedding time with an approved fungicide, under the supervision of a representative of the Director of Entomology and Plant Pathology. (e) The plant beds shall be constructed of new material, provided that old bedding sites or materials may be used if they are thoroughly treated with an approved disinfectant. An old soil shall be removed from plant beds and replaced with new soil each year, provided that old soil may be used if it is thoroughly sterilized, and provided further, that the methods and materials used meet with the approval of the Director of Entomology and Plant Pathology or his representative. SWEET POTATO CERTIFICATION CHAPTER 0080-6-3 (f) Sweet potato fields offered for certification shall be on soil in which sweet potatoes have not been grown for a period of five (5) years, and which has not been subjected to drainage from soil previously contaminated with disease. (g) Fields offered for certification must be well cultivated and maintained essentially free of weeds and grasses. Fields not so maintained may be refused certification. (h) Fields offered for certification shall have no mixture of varieties, provided, that any off-variety plants occurring in a field may be removed by the grower. If such off-variety plants, and roots or tubers, are satisfactorily eliminated, the field may be eligible for certification.