DISPOSAL OF TOMATO AND POTATO PLANTS INFECTED WITH "LATE BLIGHT" and GARLIC MUSTARD

What's the scoop on "late blight"

Adrian Barta of the Wisconsin Department or Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection reports:

"Late blight is caused by a fungus-like organism.  It’s the same disease that caused the Irish potato famine in 1845-1852, and the reason that a lot of us are in the U.S.  This year, we have seen the most serious outbreak of the disease in many years (a cool, wet July, an alleged source of infected seedling tomatoes sold across the country and widespread infection in the NE states); the first late blight in Wisconsin since 2002 and the first widespread on tomato in my dozen year experience. 

The organism  will produce millions of spores from a single infected plant, and spores may be blown for some distance.  The type of spore that the fungus is producing now are short-lived.  The only way the organism will survive the winter is in unfrozen host tissue—like, tucked into the middle of a cozy home compost heap, protected by leaves and grass clippings, ready to be unearthed in the spring.

For that reason, we are advising people not to compost plants themselves.  Most home compost piles don’t heat sufficiently, or break down sufficiently.  However, the county compost sites are certainly appropriate for decomposing the host tissue and killing the pathogen."

Proper Disposal Of Late Blight Infected Plants

There are two ways to properly dispose of plants infected with late blight. 

First, you should place the diseased plants in a plastic bag and let it sit in the sun until the plants are clearly dead. 

You can then put the bagged plants in your tan refuse cart or bring them to one of the City of Madison yard waste drop off sites.

You can also bring diseased plants directly to our drop off locations where they will be hauled to the Dane County compost sites.

Proper Disposal of Garlic Mustard