Growth characteristics of potato plants useful in studies of population dynamics and biological control of aphids

During three growing seasons, certain information was recorded weekly that was related to several characteristics of the aerial growth of five varieties of field-growing potatoes, viz. the number of stems and leaves per plant, the length of stems, and leaf area. Conversions of aphid numbers recorded from stratified subsamples of plants in the field to the number of aphids per plant or per unit of leaf area became possible by knowing the number of leaves and the leaf area per plant at the time of each aphid count. The numbers and areas of leaves per plant varied greatly among varieties as well as within and among years. The range in average maximum area of leaves per plant was 533 to 2,523 in.² for the years 1967 to 1969. The comparable range for number of leaves per plant for the years 1967 and 1969 was 53 to 145. Consideration was given to the probable influence upon the magnitude of errors of estimate of aphid abundance that might result in making conversions of field counts of aphids to the numbers of aphids per plant or per unit of leaf area.