Phytophthora infestans is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as lateblight or potato blight. Lateblight is a fast-spreading fungal disease that can rot entire fields of potatoes and kill tomato crops. The disease caused the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. Lateblight on tomato fruit. Inga Meadows.Lateblight can be differentiated from early blight on tomato and other foliar fungal diseases by where they occur on the plant. Lateblight on a tomato plant.Lateblight, a disease that strikes tomatoes and potatoes, can quickly ruin an entire crop — and infect other plants as well. Tomatolateblight attacks the tomato fruits and green parts of tomatoes. The infestation starts on the lower leaves, where yellowish irregularly shaped spots (“oil spots”) appear. Lateblight on tomato fruit (Solanum lycopersicon).Several tomato varieties are designated as resistant to lateblight. 2. Avoid overhead watering. Tomatolateblight: causes and symptoms. Lateblight on tomatoes is caused by the fungus-like Oomycete protist species, Phytophthora infestans. Symptoms of LateBlight on Tomatoes. Phytophthora infestans, the pathogen that causes tomatolateblight, needs tissue to survive. Lateblight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is an important and destructive disease on potato and tomato.Lateblight affects all aboveground parts of the tomato plant. Lateblight symptoms include blighting on all aboveground parts of the tomato plant.Left, Lateblight lesion on a tomato stem. Right, Tomato fruits infected with lateblight. Lateblight (Phytophthora infestans) is the devastating water mold disease that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s. The disease affects all parts of tomato and potato plants. significantly most effective in tomatolateblight management. The present investigation was carried out to develop region specific efficient integrated disease management (IDM). Lateblight can destroy the entire crop and you will not see a tomato! And it is easiest to deal with lateblight with preventive treatments than then suffer and destroy the lateblight fungus. Tomato - LateBlight or Phytophthora. Tomatolateblight, phytophthora. Photo: Dr. W. Nishijima.
