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watch yer maters!

 

Source: MSNBC NBC2 News, WBBH-TV-Ft. Myers, FL [edited]

 

 

 

Crop disease threatens SWFL tomatoes

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A highly contagious disease has been found on a crop of tomato plants

in Immokalee. Late blight is not harmful to humans but could destroy

tomato crops in just days.

 

An alert was sent out to all Southwest Florida farmers to take

precautions, because the disease spreads easily and quickly.

 

" This goes very quickly. I've seen fields lost in a matter of a

week, " said plant pathologist Dr. Pam Roberts. " It can take out any

part of the plant, especially the fruit. "

 

Plants go from healthy green to blackened and shriveled and then rot.

Under a microscope, it's a lemon-shaped fungus. On a leaf, it's

brownish spots that grow into a white, fuzzy mold.

 

" It can reproduce very quickly. It can spread to new plants and

basically kill a plant in a matter of days, " Roberts said.

 

At Oakes Farmers Market in Naples, they're already feeling a

Wilma-induced tomato shortage. If late blight spreads, researchers

believe our only options will be international. " We're going to be

going to other sources, like Mexico and Honduras, " said Lee Snyder of

Oakes Farmers Market.

 

With a tomato shortage, growers have to raise their prices to retail

outlets, which, in turn, raise prices for the consumer. That's why

Roberts is working to save crops. She, along with a team of

University of Florida researchers, is testing different fungicides to

see which one stops late blight before it has time to spread. " This

thing can spread for miles; everybody is at risk, " Roberts said.

 

Unlike citrus canker, an infected tomato plant doesn't have to be

destroyed if farmers can kill and contain the late blight. The

disease is seasonal, normally kicking in mid-winter, when the weather

is slightly cool and humid, like it is now.

 

 

" I challenge anyone to live on my salary " [$158,000 a year].

Tom Delay