Forecasting Tomato/Potato Late Blight Risk for YOUR Farm

March 23, 2012


Do you grow potatoes or tomatoes commercially? Have you suffered crop losses or had high fungicide spray bills due to late blight? If you have any kind of internet access, even if you are not a regular user, this workshop is for you! Come as a beginner, or come learn about newer features, if you received training a year or two ago.

To set the stage we will provide a review and update of late blight (LB) identification on potatoes and tomatoes, risk factors for 2012, and management guidelines. Then we will review the old Blitecast system, based on recent weather, and expressed in severity values (SV). When a location reaches 18 SVs from first potato emergence the first fungicide spray recommendation is triggered. This system should be familiar to those who read the Cornell Vegetable Program Veg Edge Weekly (formerly PestMinder).

The new LB Decision Support System (DSS) uses Blitecast to time the first spray, but then uses the new Simcast, which incorporates much more information into timing later sprays, such as:
- the National Weather Service pinpoint forecast for your farm for the next 3-5 days,
- your overhead irrigation input,
- the susceptibility of your varieties, and
- your fungicide spray input (choice, timing, rate).

Attendees will get their user names and passwords at the workshop and we will show them the LB DSS website at http://blight.eas.cornell.edu/blight/ and how to: log-on to their DSS account; designate their farm/field location(s), and varieties & planting dates; input their fungicide sprays; and, sign up for text or email Alerts. They will see LB development potential and fungicide weathering based on recent and future weather, and recent spray applications, and color coded thresholds for when another fungicide spray is needed to protect the crop. A new feature this year is Infection Risk for your farm based on LB confirmations in the area, and weather data such as wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity and rainfall.

There are dozens of on-farm weather stations plus airports in Western and Central NY already connected to the DSS which can be used for recent weather data which is part of the system. If you, or a group of neighboring growers, want to have your own weather station, for recent weather data close to your farm(s) you will get to hear about equipment options which are LB DSS ready and farmer friendly that you can consider.

The workshops will be lead by Carol MacNeil and John Gibbons, Abby Seaman, and Ian Small, Cornell Vegetable Program in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Erie, Genesee, Monroe, Niagara, Onondaga, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne & Yates Counties, NYS IPM Vegetable Coordinator, and Late Blight Forecast Project - Plant Pathology, Cornell, respectively. We will be available for follow-up after the workshop and during the growing season.



Agenda - Late Blight Meeting (PDF; 310KB)