![]() Discard the whole potato rather than cutting off diseased parts in case it has spread to the inside of the potato. Never use potatoes showing sign of late blight. ![]() Only use firm, disease free potatoes for eating, canning or freezing. The exact same advice is given for potatoes. The tomatoes may or may not have an off flavor. The disease organism by itself is not harmful but the tissue damage causes the tomatoes to have lower acidity and creates conditions that promote the growth of other potentially harmful microorganisms. It is also not recommended to eat fresh or frozen diseased tomatoes even if the diseased parts have been cut out. Just add the lemon juice or citric acid before filling the jars with tomatoes or tomato juice. For pints, use one tablespoon of bottle lemon juice or one-quarter teaspoon citric acid. Add two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice or a half-teaspoon of citric acid to each quart of tomatoes. Adding bottled lemon juice or citric acid to your disease-free tomatoes raises the acidity level enough that Clostridium botulinum spores cannot survive, and produce a deadly toxin that causes botulism. Michigan State University Extension always informs home canners of the importance of acidifying tomatoes. However, these tomatoes are at a higher risk for developing the late blight lesions after they are harvested, so make sure to eat or process these tomatoes as soon as possible after harvesting them. Barbara Ingham, food safety specialist with the University of Wisconsin Extension, you can safety eat and preserve unblemished tomatoes growing on plants with leaves, stems or adjacent fruit showing signs of infection. The United States Department of Agriculture Complete Guide to Home Canning recommends that only disease-free, preferably vine-ripened, firm tomatoes be used for canning.Īccording to Dr. Even tomatoes with the infected parts removed should not be canned. Diseases such as this may lower the acidity of the tomato flesh to a level that makes it unsafe for canning. Tomatoes showing signs of late blight disease have firm, dark brown lesions that quickly become large, wrinkled and somewhat sunken. This blight is highly contagious to other plants in home gardens and commercial fields.ĭo not can tomatoes with late blight. Cool, moist conditions are considered most favorable for late blight to develop and spread. Under favorable weather conditions, tomato and potato crops can be destroyed within days. Late blight in both tomatoes and potatoes is caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, and is a worldwide destructive disease. There are also useful links to a decision support system, and information about identification and management of the disease. At this site you can report disease occurrences, submit a sample online, observe disease occurrence maps and sign up for text disease alerts. USA blight is a national website project on tomato and potato late blight in the United States. The late blight has already been reported in Allegan, Clinton, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Macomb, Montcalm and St Joseph counties on USA blight. This explains why the disease spreads more rapidly when the water content of the soil or substrate is higher than normal or optimal for crop growth.Late blight is affecting Michigan tomato and potato growers and home gardeners alike. Dispersal in the soil happens via water, since the zoospores can readily move through water. For germination on above-ground plant parts, leaf wetness is required.ĭispersal is by wind and rain causes the pathogen to be returned to the soil from infected plants. Secondary infection is either by germinating sporangia or by zoospores produced in the sporangia. The pathogen grows into the stem and on the plant surface and new sporangiophores (structures containing sporangia, a type of spores) with sporangia are formed that protrude through the stomata. Exudates leaking from growing root tips promote germination and attract the zoospores. Infection is usually from the root to the foot, but direct infection of the foot also occurs. Zoospores are spores with flagellae which enable them to move through water. Zoospores are formed from the overwintering structures which infect the host. Phytophthora overwinters in roots, infected tubers and bulbs or in the soil in different stages: as oospores (sexual overwintering spores), sporangia (special structures which can either germinate directly or produce zoospores), chlamydospores (thick-walled mycelium cells which are resistant to desiccation) or mycelium. ![]() ![]() They thrive at soil temperatures between 15 and 23 ☌ and higher water content than is optimal for crop growth. Phytophthora species are very destructive organisms belonging to the Oomycetes and are therefore strictly speaking not fungi.
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