Extension News: June 2009 Archives

earliest appearance on record; devastating disease spreads fast, kills quickly

Late blight, a devastating fungal disease that infects tomatoes and potatoes, has been confirmed in Maine, upstate New York, Pennsylvania and in several areas of New Hampshire.

Left unchecked, the fungus can quickly wipe out plantings of these popular vegetables.

Premature arrival, probably on infected tomato seedlings
"Late blight usually doesn't strike the Northeast until August," says Extension Plant Health Specialist Cheryl Smith. "Rainy, overcast weather has provided very favorable conditions for development and spread of the disease."

"Some large, nationwide retail stores have apparently sold infected tomato seedlings. If you bought tomato seedlings at one of these stores, check your plants and keep on checking," Smith says.

Symptoms
"Classic symptoms include large, irregularly-shaped, water-soaked, olive-green-to-brown spots on leaves. Under wet or very humid conditions, a slightly fuzzy, white fungal growth may be visible on the underside of the leaf," says Smith." "Leaf lesions begin as tiny, irregularly-shaped dark green or brown spots. Brown to blackish irregular lesions also develop on upper stems. Firm, brown spots develop on tomato fruit, and infected fruit often looks bumpy".

Advice to home gardeners
"The late blight fungus produces many spores, which can travel long distances through the air. It's crucial that everyone who grows potatoes or tomatoes, including home gardeners, is monitoring for late blight to avoid being a source of spores that move on to infect potatoes and tomatoes in neighboring gardens and commercial fields.

"There's no need to take action if your plants show no signs of infection," Smith says. But she urges home gardeners to heed this advice:

• Thoroughly inspect potato and tomato plantings on a daily basis, because late blight moves fast and can be difficult to control once established in a planting.
• Fungicides containing the active ingredient chlorothalonil are fairly effective in protecting plants from infection. Although copper fungicides are an option for organic gardeners, copper is not highly effective. Gardeners don't have access to fungicides effective for controlling the disease once plants are infected.
• Don't attempt to treat infected plants with fungicides, even those labeled for late blight. Fungicides available to home gardeners can't cure plants that are already infected.
• If you see signs of infection, pull all infected plants from the ground, bag them up, and dispose of the bags in the trash. Do not put them in the compost or in a refuse heap.
• Put a few samples (include several stems plus leaves and/or fruit) into a plastic bag and bring it to your County Extension office, but don't wait for confirmation to pull out the infected plants.
• Don't touch healthy plants after handling infected plants until you've scrubbed your hands with soap and water thoroughly.

Cornell University's late-blight photo gallery

Late blight/early blight photos Photos compare late blight with early blight.

Cornell University vegetable disease updates Frequent updates about vegetable diseases in the Northeast, including late blight.

Photo of late blight on tomato leaves by Eric Sideman, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

Thinking about canning the abundance from your garden, CSA, or local farm stand?

Before you harvest, make sure you're using current canning information and tested recipes. And make sure your equipment is in good working order.

Test your pressure canner
Test the pressure-canner dial gauge for accuracy each year before the canning season.

Home food-preservers with Presto-made pressure canners* may bring their Pressure Dial Gauge or Pressure Tru Indicator to a UNH Cooperative Extension county office for testing.

Please call your county Extension office in advance, rather than just walking in with your pressure gauge. If your county isn't conducting testing this year, the Family & Consumer Resources educator there can refer you to a site that will. The educator doing the testing can also inspect your equipment and provide you with recommendations for use based on its condition.

Although weighted-gauge types of pressure canners don't require testing for accuracy, replace the weighted gauge if it's damaged in any way.

*Brand names manufactured by National Presto Industries include: Magic Seal, Maid of Honor, Presto, and National.

Canning workshops scheduled
Although these workshops focus on water-bath canning, but instructors will answer questions about pressure canning, freezing, and drying. (Keep checking this space, as more workshops will be scheduled as the season progresses.)

• August 13: Yes You Can, Exeter Seacoast Farmers Market, Exeter, 2:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call Claudia Boozer-Blasco 679-5616
• August 13: Yes You Can--Preserving Food at Home, Green Thumb Nursery, Rte 116, North Haverhill, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, call Deb Maes at 787-6944
• August 15: Yes You Can, Seacoast Farmers Market, Portsmouth, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call Claudia Boozer-Blasco at 679-5616.
• August 18: Yes You Can, Tracy Library, New London, 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. For more information, call Marilyn Sullivan, 225-5505.
• August 18: Yes You Can, Applecrest Farm Orchards, 133 Exeter Road, Hampton Falls, 11:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. For more information, call Claudia Boozer-Blasco at 679-5616.
• August 20: Yes You Can, Wesley United Methodist Church, Clinton Street, Concord, 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Small fee will be charged. Registration handled by the Concord Cooperative Market. Call Ruth Smith at 410-3099 for more information.
• August 25: Yes You Can, Rye Public Library, 581 Washington Road, Rye, 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. For more information, call Claudia Boozer-Blasco at 679-5616.
• September 16: Yes You Can, Massabesic Audubon Center, 26 Audubon Way, Auburn, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Small fee will be charged. Registration handled by the Massabesic Audubon Center. Call 668-2045 for more information.
• September 17: Preserving Your Harvest, New Hampshire Technical Institute, Sweeney Building (student center) Room 225, 31 College Drive, Concord, 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. For more information, call Marilyn Sullivan at 225-5505.
  

Photo credit: podchef at Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Blacklegged ticks (formerly called deer ticks) are active now throughout much of New Hampshire. June is especially important, because the nymphs (immature forms) of blacklegged ticks are active, and they can transmit Lyme Disease more quickly than the adults.

American dog tick, which doesn't transmit Lyme Disease, will probably be active until some time in August (depends on rainfall).

If you suspect a tick has been biting more than a few hours, consider having it identified once you remove it. (Tweezers or forceps can help with the removal.).

To protect yourself:

• Avoid thick brush and tall grass when ticks are active.
• Use tick repellent on socks and pantlegs (or legs if you wear shorts).
• Check yourself for ticks at the end of the day; remember that they can crawl under your clothing, between your toes, and behind or on your ears.
• Remove attached ticks promptly.
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New UNH Cooperative Extension publications that can help

Insect Repellents includes information on several new active ingredients, including some that work on ticks.

Biology and Management of Ticks in New Hampshire Comprehensive fact sheet has been updated and expanded to include much new information on diseases, tick species, and controls.

Alan Eaton, UNH Cooperative Extension entomology specialist

Photo credit (blacklegged tick biting): Alan Eaton

Project matches farmland owners with aspiring farmers looking for land

"Today, more than ever, there's a need to match farmers who want to sell or rent their farms with people who want to go into farming," says John Porter, New Hampshire Extension dairy specialist emeritus.

"Farmland is expensive and hard to find, and there's a younger generation with a desire to farm and supply local food. Some landowners have indicated a willingness to make special arrangements for people who showed promise of carrying on their enterprise."

A formal program to match farm owners with buyers or renters
Toward that end, in 2000 the New Hampshire Coalition for Sustaining Agriculture, a cross-section of people dedicated to preserving agriculture in the state, proposed the idea of a program to join aspiring farmers to willing renters or sellers of farmland.

"We called it New Hampshire Farm Link," says Porter. "Tony Mincu, a Coalition member and a law student at the time, took on the task of formally organizing Farm Link as part of a community law project at Franklin Pierce Law School. There have been a few applications kept on file over the years and some informal match-ups, but there wasn't enough funding or staff to maintain a full-service land-matching program.

Farm Link finds a permanent home
"After several years of relative dormancy, looking for a new home, New Hampshire Farm Link has merged with New England LandLink, a program of the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) in Belchertown, Massachusetts," says Porter "We're really excited about this move.

"New England LandLink, which serves all of New England and eastern New York, maintains a database that currently has 510-plus seekers and more 60 farm offerings. Merging with this regional program will provide a considerably larger pool of prospective farmers and available land and should be a win-win situation for everyone involved," says Porter. "LandLink director Warren Hubley is available by phone and email to provide personal contact (warren@smallfarm.org or 413-323-4531).

Looking for farmland? Want to sell farmland?
People who want to list their property or who are looking for land can obtain application forms from any UNH Cooperative Extension office or other cooperating agricultural agencies around the state, or directly from New England LandLink. It costs $10 to register for the standard LandLink services, which include contact information for any Web listings and advice about new properties.