Late blight is threatening New Jersey tomato and potato crops.
The destructive fast-spreading disease has been found on five farms in the state and has growers worried.
“Cherry tomatoes were my No. 2 seller last year,” said Organic farmer Jess Niederer. Her crops were struck with the disease last year, but it was late enough in the season to spare her from losing a significant amount of money.
The disease typically appears between August and October, when the growing season is at its end, making this year’s early reports unusual — and worrying, Melendez said, as reported by NJ.com.
Recent heavy rains have made conditions favorable for the proliferation of late blight.
“We need five or six days of 90-degree weather to dry out these crops, because that will shut down the disease,” said Andy Wyenandt, a vegetable pathology specialist for the Rutgers Cooperative Extension. “That will benefit farmers the most.”
The disease of Irish potato famine notoriety, creates fuzzy spores and dark lesions on leaves and stems of tomatoes and potatoes and quickly kills the entire plant.
“This could really wipe out a tomato crop. You could have nothing one day and the next day start seeing symptoms,” Lawrence farmer Walter Bonczkiewicz said. Though he hasn’t seen symptoms of late blight on his crops at Village Farms this year, “once you get it, you’re done,” he said.
Farmers should check their crops daily and use fungicides to prevent late blight. Organic growers can use liquid copper fungicides to suppress development, but it must be reapplied to every leaf surface each time it rains in order to be effective. Growers need to be diligent, as by the time symptoms are first noticed it is almost impossible to save the crop, even with the most effective treatments.
New Jersey Tomato Update
