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Farm Events: |
Farm News: Battle Blight Now - Before You See ItcommentsPosted: 06.29.2010
 Feature by summer intern, Ashley Nimtz Late Blight, the disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the mid 1800’s, has been found in six states so far this year and that's got Wisconsin extension specialists on high alert. The latest state thats detected the disease is Michigan with other hot spots detected in Manitoba, Canada. Amanda Geves, UW Vegetable Plant Pathologist says now is the time for Wisconsin potatoe and tomatoe growers to protect their plants from the disease that thrives in wet weather. Late blight is transported through the air - so rain and wind can carry spores miles before resting on new plant material. That's why Geves says applying a fungicide to your plants now - while the weather is cooperating - is forward thinking. Geves says that if conditions are right, the late blight is a very fast acting disease, attacking some plants and killing them within one to two weeks. Geves says growers and gardeners should be checking their plants for the disease symptoms at least twice per week. Blight lesions can appear on the leaves, stem or fruit of the plant. In the beginning the lesions appear to be a pale green, but will quickly turn to brown or black patches. When there is high humidity, the edges of the lesions may turn fuzzy and white. The late blight disease is a firm decaying disease and moves very quickly once it infects a plant. Once the plant is infected it will decay quickly but will not become soft.
To protect your plants, you can apply a simple copper based fungicide or other liquid products labeled for vegetable production that contain "Chlorothalonil". These fungicides need to be applied at a time where it will not rain for a specific amount of time—see product for exact times-- so the dry weather this week may be ideal.
If you feel that you have early symptoms of Late Blight disease in your garden, field or on your plants you should be sure to contact Amanda Gevens the UW Vegetable Plant Pathologist at gevens@wisc.edu or at her number 608-890-3072.
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