Identification of Late Blight
and Phytophthora infesta
- Identifying late blight?
- Look for the disease in the field
- The pathogen requires moisture.
- First detectable in field locations subject to long periods of wetness
The only plot of potatoes personally planted that are showing late blight are in a field that was sprinkle irrigated two times a week. Although that was great for setting thousands upon thousands of potato berries, late blight has hit those lease likely to carry resistance. I will be collecting the data on hundreds of potato clones as I collect potato berries. The sprinklers have been shut off, therefore the warm dry air has stopped the spread of the disease a bit. The berries are the last area to be affected by blight.
I will have an excellent crop of disease free potatoes to harvest along the TPS. Everything I am doing with potatoes now is 100% organically grown without sprays of any kind.
This will be a valuable resource for the future. I have most of the potato varieties in non-irrigated locations for seed tubers to store.
Tom Wagner