ALBANY (AP) -- State Agriculture Commissioner Darrel Aubertine is advising home gardeners and commercial growers to be alert for signs oflate blight, a devastating disease of tomatoes and potatoes that thrives in cool, rainy weather.
The fungal disease appears as black spots on plants, which soon wither and die.
Aubertine noted the widespread devastation caused by the disease in 2009, when tomato crops were destroyed in New York and numerous other states. After that disaster, the state Department of Agriculture initiated a strategy to enhance detection and eradication efforts, including training of horticultural inspectors and surveying plants in retail stores and commercial greenhouses.
Aubertine said inspection of tomato plants has been a priority this year; more than 150,000 have been inspected with no signs of late blight detected.
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