Southeastern Strawberry Growers Advised to Prepare for Disease Pressure

All the recent wet weather in the Southeast will favor the main strawberry fruit rot diseases, including botrytis fruit rot (BFR) and anthracnose fruit rot (AFR), according to an advisory from the Southern Region Center for Integrated Pest Management (CIPM).

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The Strawberry Fruit Infection Risk advisory tool shows high risk for both BFR and AFR, according to a blog post by Frank Louws, Director, CIPM. BFR will be the main concern for most growers, says Louws, who is also a Professor at the Department of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University.

Here are details of how to use the advisory tool or users can go directly to the map.

On the bright side, Louws reports researchers have not consistently identified plant sources with the AFR pathogen.

“Hopefully, AFR pressure will be low this year for most growers,” he says. “Some strawberry fields have problems with angular leaf spot, caused by the bacteria Xanthomonas fragariae.”

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Louws provided a list of links with details and up-to-date management recommendations about:

Botrytis Fruit Rot

Anthracnose Fruit Rot

Angular leaf spot

2017 Strawberry IPM Guide

Guide for Fungicide Use for Gray Mold and Anthracnose in Strawberries

Strawberry Diagnosis Tool

 

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