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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Late Blight

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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] Late Blight
  • Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 10:56:28 -0400

I second getting this checked by your county extension. I have called them several times in previous years for things that looked to me like late blight but weren't (and twice in twenty years for something that looked to me like late blight and was).

If it is late blight, for the sake of the rest of your county and the Northeast in general, please follow their recommendations; even if their recommendation is to destroy the plants immediately.

Reports of results from compost tea are wildly variable; I suspect some of them are cases in which the disease was not definitively diagnosed and was not actually late blight. Controlled studies also seem to give highly variable results; this might depend on the exact microbes in the particular compost tea. I wouldn't count on this to control the problem -- and again, you're putting your entire area at risk if you have an infection that sporulates.


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



On Jul 5, 2010, at 9:17 AM, <sunnfarm AT netscape.com> <sunnfarm AT netscape.com> wrote:

Late blight, Phytophtora infestans is a death sentence for tomatoes. Every tomato grower on the east coast is sitting on pins and needles worrying about its return after last years disaster. I have not received any reports of infections from Virginia. There are some spotty reports from Ohio Kentucky and Long Island NY. LB can not survive in dry weather and temps over 90 degrees as we have been suffering through for the last four weeks. You may have a disease that looks like LB. There is a lot of bacterial wilt and stem rot at this time that looks like LB...Please contact county extension and confirm what problem you have... Bob.
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.

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From: Pam Twin Oaks 
Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2010 17:07:49 -0400

Argh! Looks like Late Blight has arrived on our big paste tomato planting. No, I didn't do preventative spraying. Yes, I do farm organically, but no, not USDA certified. What can I do now?

So far, it is sporadic lesions on leaves of some of the plants, and the weather forecast is hot and dry. (They have drip irrigation) We're trying removing all the damage once a day every day for a week, while the sun is beating down and the UV will sterilize the spores. Has anyone ever had success with this?

Has anyone had success with compost tea, seaweed sprays or other beneficial foliar sprays?

Has anyone had success after the fact, with Sonata, Oxidate or any of the other organically approved sprays?

The fruits are only just starting to ripen, so if the plants are doomed, this is a big failure....

Pam, Twin Oaks COmmunity, Louisa, VA. Zone 7









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