The Northeast Organic Farming Association is urging farmers to act now to reduce the risk of late blight next season.
NOFA-NY (www.nofany.org <http://www.nofany.org/> ) is a non-profit educational organization committed to promoting a sustainable regional food system.
It maintains that a major outbreak of late blight -- the disease that devastated tomato plantings and reduced potato yields throughout New York State this growing season -- may occur any year when growing conditions (wet, cool weather) favor its development.
While farmers and gardeners can't control the weather, they can reduce the risk of another widespread outbreak of late blight by following a few key practices starting this fall.
In our region, the organism that causes late blight survives from one season to the next in living host tissue-infected potato tubers. Tomatoes do not carry the disease over winter because their seed is not infected by the disease.
To reduce the chance of the disease organism's survival, this fall growers should thoroughly harvest all potatoes and then till up all land that grew potatoes. The harvested tubers should be carefully inspected and all infected tubers destroyed: by chopping into small pieces and burying deeply (below 2 feet); burning; feeding to livestock; or spreading on the soil surface so that they will freeze over the winter. Infected tubers thrown into a pile may survive the winter and thus perpetuate the disease.
Growers can continue to reduce the risk of late blight next year by buying and planting certified potato seed tubers. They should also scout last year's potato land for volunteer plants, which should be dug up (including tubers) and immediately destroyed.
Infected tomato seedlings sold through "big box" stores were a major factor in the explosive spread of the disease throughout the state. Gardeners should consider starting their own seedlings or buying them from a local commercial grower.
By following these practices, farmers and gardeners can work together to reduce the chance of a major outbreak of late blight next year and in years to come. More information on the disease and management practices that reduce the risk of its occurrence can be found at the NOFA-NY website (www.nofany.org <http://www.nofany.org/> ), which also has links to other useful sites.
