Late blight found in Walsh Country, North Dakota

Despite hot dry weather, Late Blight was found in a field in northern Walsh County in northeast North Dakota late last week.

This is in addition to finds in Dickey County in southeast North Dakota and in the Carberry and Carman areas of southern Manitoba Canada.Dr. Nick David who is an Extension Potato Agronomist for North DakotaState University and the University of Minnesota, says that so far there hasbeen no late blight found in Minnesota.

David says ?The symptoms from southeastern North Dakota were observed on leaflets, while the stem and petiole lesions were predominant in northeast North Dakota.

David stresses, ?Late Blight is a community disease that has the potential to get rapidly out of control if appropriate actions are not taken and informationis not shared. It does not discriminate between process, chip, fresh, and seed growers.

If a suspicious sample is found, it should be placed in a plastic bag, kept cool, and brought to the Plant Pathology Department at NDSU in Fargo for immediate confirmation.

David says, ?As I was driving around last week, I observed cull piles full of flowering potato plants and volunteer potatoes in wheat fields. These must be destroyed as they are apotential source of inoculum.

As always, fungicide recommendations and current Late Blight severity values can be found on Blightline at www.ndsu.edu/potato_pathology.