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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Fwd: tomato late blight detected in our area
  • Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:08:17 -0400


On Sep 17, 2009, at 9:01 AM, courtney mcleod wrote:

I have it here bad in Northeast Ohio, so what do I do for next year?  Won’t the soil be screwed now to replant in next season?  I have a small garden, only 1/4 of an acre….rotation is really hard to do since I grow peppers and potatoes along with 400 tomatoes, plus other veggies.

It's my understanding that late blight a) requires living plant material of susceptible plants to stay alive and b) does not in any case overwinter in the north; escept that it may survive the winter here in infected potato tubers, if the tubers are still alive underground or in the middle of a compost heap..

Dig up and destroy (burn, bury deep elsewhere, or bag and landfill) all your remaining potato crop (also destroy the potato tops and tomato plants). Don't use any of this year's potatoes for seed stock next year (if they're severely infected you won't be tempted, they'll be a black stinking mush; but I wouldn't use even any that look all right.) -- anything that looks all right to eat you can eat, but keep an eye on it in storage.

You'll probably be all right next year as long as you did the above.

As others have said, it's also weather related; late blight likes things cool and wet. And, as others have said, it was a huge problem in the Northeast this year because the big box stores sold infected transplants all over the area, causing the late blight to get here extremely early. Either start your own transplants from seed, or get them from a reputable independent local greenhouse grower (which is good advice anyway, as they're far more likely to have varieties suited for your area, as well as far more likely to have taken good care of the plants. Many such will custom start plants for the small market grower, also, if you talk to them early enough; so you can get the varieties you want, started at the right time to be at the right growth stage for your own planting schedule.) -- You may know all that already, of course.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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