Can late blight overwinter on potatoes I may have left in the garden?
Potatoes that freeze or fully decompose will not carry the pathogen over winter. However, the biggest threat for overwintered disease in New England is on potatoes that might come up this year. In the spring, inspect last year’s potato plot and any compost or cull piles for volunteer potato plants. If you find potato plants, pull them out and put them in the trash or destroy them. If tubers were infected and survive, then the late blight pathogen could grow upward from the tuber, infecting the stem and producing spores when weather conditions are favorable. These spores could then disperse to other tomato and potato plants. Is there anything else I can do to prevent late blight this year? Yes. Late blight is not seedborne (however, it is tuber-borne in potato), so tomato plants started from seed locally (in the Northeast) will be free of the disease. Growing your own tomato transplants from seed or purchasing transplants that were started here in the Northeast from seed will ensure a h
