Vegetable Blight Alert!

Commercial growers and private backyard gardeners need to examine their tomatoes and potatoes for late blight. Kenny Seebold, extension plant pathologist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, reports “This disease looks a lot different than what growers are used to seeing,” “Leaves of infected plants will die and wither quickly. Unlike most diseases, which begin at the bottom of the plant and spread upward, this disease can infect the whole plant or begin at the top of the plant.” Seebold encouraged growers who suspect late blight or see anything out of the ordinary on their plants to bring samples to their local extension office for UK plant pathologists to diagnose.