Botrytis Cinerea Alert

Symptoms:

Dense gray-brown fuzzy mycelium forms and causes infected tissue to dry.

Who Am I?

Botrytis cinerea, also known as gray mold, is a common fungal disease. It develops primarily during wintertime and mainly appears on crops growing inside covered structures. It favors high moisture conditions and has a tendency to attack injured plant tissues. Botrytis cinerea can also occur post-harvest.

Control Measures

Monitoring: Make it a routine to monitor the field regularly and search plants for the presence of botrytis cinerea on a weekly basis.

Moisture reduction: Improve air circulation, promote drying foliage, and shorten the duration of wetting periods by introducing net curtain vented areas

Proper soil drainage: The presence of standing water will promote the spread of botrytis cinerea.

Sanitation: Remove plant debris and make an effort to keep your field and its surroundings as clean as possible.

When conditions for botrytis cinerea are expected, consider spraying once every 10-14 days with fungicides. Don’t use products containing the same active ingredients in consecutive treatments. Use fungicides belonging to different groups to prevent pathogens from developing resistance to a specific chemical.

The following is a list of generic names for fungicides known to help manage botrytis cinerea and is sorted into groups according to their mode of action:

Group 1: Pyrimethanil; Group 2: Cyprodinil; Group 3: Fenhexamid; Group 4: Iprodione, vinclozolin, fludioxonil, procymidone; Group 5: Azoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, kresoxim methyl; Group 6: Chlorothalonil; Group 7: Dichlofluanid; Group 8: Mancozeb

Products based on tea tree oil and Potassium Hydrogen Carbonate+copper sulfate

Bacillus subtilis

*Names marked in red are considered to be highly poisonous to beneficial insects.

*Names marked in green are considered to be organic and IPM (integrated pest management) compatible.

Caution and careful notice should be taken when using any plant protection products (insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides). It is the grower’s sole responsibility to keep track of the legal uses and permissions with respect to the laws in their country and destination markets. Always read the instructions written on labels, and in a case of contradiction, work in accordance to the product label. Keep in mind that information written on the label usually applies to local markets. Pest control products intended for organic farming are generally considered to be less effective in comparison to conventional products. When dealing with organic, biologic, and to some extent a small number of conventional chemical products, a complete eradication of a pest or disease will often require several iterations of a specific treatment or combination of treatments.

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