Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

Tomato: Late Blight

You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster By Op-Ed Contributor, DAN BARBER, Published: August 9, 2009 in the NY Times.

(Late Blight symptoms on tomato fruit; Image Source, http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PPDL/images/lateblighttomato.jpg)

Synopsis: As we begin to grow more of our own food, we need to reacquaint ourselves with plant pathology and understand that what we grow, and how we grow it, affects everyone else.

I did not see an opportunity to respond to Barber's article on the New York Times page, so I thought I would add my two cents on the Tumbledown site. There isn't much with which to disagree--and there is very much with which to agree--in the opinion piece, though he comes close to blaming "ignorant home gardeners" (my paraphrase) for the outbreak of late blight in the Northeast. My guess is that the problem may be at least as much related to how the tomato crops are being cultivated (both on farms and in home gardens) as it is to the origin of the purchased of plants. Barber recommends starting plants from seed rather than purchasing plants from "Home Depot, Kmart, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart." I couldn't agree more. But, as Barber admits, "the disease is almost always present" and it might have been helpful, even in a place like Indiana where the disease is rare, to list some useful cultivation practices for future reference: e.g., plant them so that they will not be crowded after they are full grown (crowding increases the time required for evaporation; dampness encourages the disease), remove plant debris quickly in the fall and bury it, rotate crops (do not rotate in close proximity to potatoes), avoid working with plants when they are wet.

Otherwise a great article, well worth the read. Glad we haven't been hit yet. We grow our tomatoes from seed, as those who have read our tomato growing page have discovered.

For more info see the story on this outbreak of late blight in tomatoes from the Purdue Plant and Pest Laboratory's "weekly topics," Purdue Extension, July 10, 2009.

(Late Blight symptoms on tomato leaf; Image source, http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PPDL/images/lateblighttomato2.jpg)