The very wet, cool and cloudy June we just experienced produced ideal conditions for "late blight," the disease that spurred the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. This is a disease that occurs in our area every few years late in the season. But what's unusual about it this year is that it began appearing in June in some parts of the Northeast US. It can infect both potato and tomato plants. While there are implications of infection stemming from a mass grower in Alabama with plants sold nationwide in box-stores, it's possible that the local environmental conditions were what was needed for the spores to blossom into a problem here. The editor of this blog who gardens in Concord has found some of her potato plants are infected, and it's rapidly involving more and more individual plants. Her tomato plants are doing fine so far. Drier, warmer weather might just slow it down... if anyone can arrange for some, please do!
Are you experiencing late blight in your garden or farm fields in Concord? Let us know what you're doing in response or with an eye to prevention (email us).
Some recent news stories on the subject:
Boston Globe: Late blight is striking tomatoes and potatoes
