Late blight was detected in Genesee, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties on Aug. 16, according to Cornell Cooperative Extension in Genesee and Chautauqua counties.
It could make its way to other parts of Western New York, too, because it can spread dozens of miles on storm fronts.
Late blight is a serious disease that can kill tomato and potato plants in just one week, according to Cornell Cooperative Extension in Chautauqua County. It’s best known for causing the Irish potato famine.
Since this disease is aggressive, spreads easily and can be very damaging to area farmers, Cornell Cooperative Extension asks that anyone suspecting they have late blight please contact their local Cooperative Extension office for assistance with identification.
Recognizing late blight
Late blight is caused by a fungus-like organism, according to Cornell Cooperative Extension in Genesee County.
Disease spots are often dark gray to brown in color and tend to be surrounded by pale green tissue. Initially, spot shape and size varies but eventually most of an infected leaf or stem will become discolored and die. Leaf spots often look slightly fuzzy on the underside of the leaf in the early morning or when the weather is wet and humid.
Late blight will put dark brown to black smears on tomato stems. Tomato fruit may also develop large, firm, greasy-looking, brown, gray or black smears on the upper part of the fruit.
Potato leaves show dark spots with fuzzy white spores on the underside during humid weather. Potato stems show similar lesions to those seen in tomato plants.
Don’t confuse late blight with the normal yellowing of leaves. The normal yellow leaves will have lots of small black specks, and the affected leaves will be mostly at the bottom of the plant.
Dealing with late blight
See a factsheet here. It has information on what to do if your plants are affected by late blight. Here are fungicide recommendations for late blight.
If you think you have late blight, please make sure you contact the Cornell Cooperative Extension in your county so they can take action. What is just a disappointment to a home gardener can be devastating to area farmers.
Donna, thanks for sharing. It would be nice to enjoy as many home-grown tomatoes as we can!
My mom used to wrap green tomatoes in news paper to ripen them. She would check them every now and then to see if they were ripe to use then. I have done this and it does work. She worked many years in a produce department.
Thank you
Valerie, late blight affects tomatoes and potatoes. Whenever you have a question about what is wrong with your plant, it’s best to contact the Master Gardeners in your county. You can find the contact information here. I hope that helps.
Can this didease affect green bell peppers? I had one or two peppers that looked similar to the tomato picture but the brownish area was on the bottom of the peppers working its way up.
It’s worth a try.
My tomatoes have just started to ripen. If I pick them totally green, before they get late blight, will they ripen in a bushel basket?