b'ated garden centres are carrying blight resistant tomato varieties and promoting them to theirGERANIUMS MAY ALSO BRING THREATcustomers, Mary Kay Sonier, seed coordinator with the P.E.I. Potato Board, says. Those tomato varieties include Mountain Merit,Last spring, another threat, Ralstonia, was discovered in the Mountain Magic, Plum Regal, Jasper and Defiant,United States. This time the carrier was geranium plants among others. Late blight affects several plantsand much like late blight, it can cause disease in in the Solanaceae family, which also includescommercial potato crops. eggplant, peppers and potatoes. The U.S. Department of Agricultures Our focus this year was encouraging peopleAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service to plant blight resistant tomatoes and to also be(APHIS) says the detection of Ralstonia aware of late blight in potato and pepper plantssolanacearum race 3 biovar 2 (RSr3b2) is the in their home gardens and what to do if they seefirst confirmed case since 2004. The infected symptoms, Sonier explains. We also tried toplants originally came from a greenhouse in explain how the disease in home gardens couldGuatemala and were distributed from Michigan spread to commercial crops and encouragedto more than 650 facilities in 44 states. people to be a good neighbour by disposing of theAll Fantasia Pink Flare geranium plants, infected plants in the appropriate manner beforeco-mingled and exposed host and non-host plants spores can spread. were immediately destroyed, and the greenhouses sanitized Home gardeners were encouraged to plantaccording to the protocol to clear the facility of the pathogen.and harvest early and have harvest completed byThe plants were also shipped to a greenhouse in Ontario, according to a news release from mid- to late-summer when plants are more likelyCanadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The greenhouse destroyed all of the infected geraniums to become infected. In commercial fields and inand followed CFIA disinfection instructions.home gardens, infected plants must be destroyed to prevent further spread.46 SPUDSMART.COM WINTER 2021'