Long Island Faces Tomato Blight

John Mitty Thursday, August 1, 2013

For the fifth year in a row, Long Island farmers are facing a tomato blight.  The evidence of this year’s blight was discovered at an agriculture lab operated by Cornell University in Riverhead.  Researchers discovered mold spores on a sample of tomatoes provided by an East End farm.  “We are looking at the pathogen growing on these leaves,” said Dr. Meg McGrath.  “This is a little later than past years, which suggests the pathogen has been wind-dispersed onto Long Island as opposed to having started here.” 

According to McGrath, the recent rains on Long Island may have contributed to the development of the latest blight.  If the weather becomes hot and sunny, that may be enough to kill the blight and salvage the crops.  It is a bad time for a blight to strike since the tomato crops are just now becoming ripe.  Last year, many farmers on LI lost as much as half of their crop.  According to McGrath, some species of tomato are more resistant to the disease than others, but the public should not be concerned about eating the tomatoes.  “They’re not unsafe to eat if the tomato fruit itself is infected, but it’s going to break down very quickly.”

 

jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com

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