Late blight already seems to be in some northern states.

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Allegedly there is confirmed cases in Boone and Kenton County Kentucky (part of greater Cincinnati) on the border of Ohio this year. Allegedly there are already confirmed cases in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Louisiana and Florida.


For next year I hope to have blight resistant tomatoes. Allegedly "Mountain Magic", and "Plum Regal" currently are the varieties that have the best late Blight resistance.

Late Blight resistance; allegedly
Ferline F1 Hybrid
Fantastico F1 Hybrid
Mountain Magic
Plum Regal
Legend

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Could someone explain this to me in more simple and common language? It sounds like theoretically late blight could survive a freeze. It sounds like if it did that it might Metamorphoize into a more freeze resistant strain. It sounds like so far there is no hard evidence that it has survived a freeze yet.

The spores resulting from sexual reproduction are called oospores. Oospores are thick-walled dormant structures (Fig. 18) that can survive in the absence of living plant tissue. The occurrence of oospores could change the epidemiology of the disease because they can survive in soil over winter or summer (if soil temperatures do not exceed 40°C [= 102°F]). If oospores are produced, the soil may become a source of this pathogen, therefore adding an entirely new dimension to the epidemiology of P. infestans and the control of late blight. The result will be new "sources" of the pathogen. At the time of this writing (1998), there is no evidence that oospores are contributing to the epidemiology of late blight of potatoes or tomatoes in the United States. Nonetheless, the possibility of sexual reproduction exists and growers and scientists need to be alert to this development.

Source.
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.corne...to_LateBlt.htm

Some of you Southerners (warm climate inhabitants) that are used to late blight and using fungicides; might not fully understand why some of us Northerners (cold climate inhabitants) being so ignorant and fearful of late blight, because for most of us back yard growers up north have never had to really worry about late blight because it hasn't affected the most of us. Usually the freeze kills it out and normally it doesn't have a chance to spread to the colder regions in time to decimate most crops. So I have been raising tomatoes for over four decades and never have lost a crop too late blight and have never used fungicides until last year. Though my tomatoes didn't catch late blight till well after the tomatoes peaked and were on the decline and it was near the time that I was starting to think about pulling the plants out of the ground because the temperatures were getting close to freezing. It was quite impressive how quick and aggressive the late blight was. In my over 40 years of growing tomatoes I have never seen tomatoes and the plants rot so fast. I guess I've never realized how privileged and/or lucky that I was that I've never experienced such a decimating disease or had to use fungicides.

Using fungicides is new to me; despite the fact that I've been growing tomatoes for over 40 years. Unfortunately now it seems like it might be necessary to use fungicides and to use extra precautions and preventatives.