Earlier I discussed what caused the potato famine; a fungus that infects potatoes and tomatoes. Well, you may ask, what ever happened to this fungus? Did it die out like other diseases have over the years?
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| Symptoms of Potato Blight |
Iterestingly, the fungus has not died out. In fact, there was an outbreak of it in the summer of 2009 in the Northeastern United States. The blight started in New York where it traveled throughout the rest of the Northeast. Researchers believe that it came from infected tomato plants in the South. Any seed plants that were purchased from the South and planted were infected and then spread the disease to health plants or seedlings.
Gardeners and farmers at the time were recommended to check for symptoms of the fungus infection regularly, spray fungicides preventively and often, and remove any infected plants promptly.
Clearly this outbreak was not as detrimental as the one in Ireland, mostly because we have better methods of controlling the fungus now and potatoes (or tomatoes) are not our main food source.
Sources:
Information: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090701163647.htm
Potato: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_zYylWT20CKl0VgJJ3aJU9VtfwkMGFCKmo76fXGFYPlc95F5mKi_mG3XL0jhIA7UFjcBUgg0_fMfPLaDHYVygs07Q4xCojyL1dsSJWUVdSlbOmIPWy7IulD2y0O8ifbh3Hjf84QlaerB/s400/potato+blight.jpg
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