- Mar 22, 2011
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Thoughtful editorial in the NYT concerning the explosion of late blight on tomatoes this year. Some farmers have faced the sudden decision of either losing the entire crop or spraying and losing their organic certification for three years.
The problem is the mass marketing of seedlings. Outlets such as Home Depot are trucking hundreds of thousands of plants thousands of miles. One infected seedling is going to infect countless others. This creates a massive disease vector (similar to what happens in our food supply when some pathogen strikes). The remedy is to buy small and local, or better, to grow from seed (next year for me, Lord willing).
My tomatoes (Home Depot) came down with a serious blight this year, but I think it's early blight, not late. I guess I need to have them examined, because I need to strategize for next year: crop rotation, multiple varieties, deeper mulch and less-frequent watering are on the agenda.
The problem is the mass marketing of seedlings. Outlets such as Home Depot are trucking hundreds of thousands of plants thousands of miles. One infected seedling is going to infect countless others. This creates a massive disease vector (similar to what happens in our food supply when some pathogen strikes). The remedy is to buy small and local, or better, to grow from seed (next year for me, Lord willing).
My tomatoes (Home Depot) came down with a serious blight this year, but I think it's early blight, not late. I guess I need to have them examined, because I need to strategize for next year: crop rotation, multiple varieties, deeper mulch and less-frequent watering are on the agenda.
