The Strawberry Disease You Can’t Afford to Neglect
Learn the causes of gray mold, or Botrytis rot, in strawberries and how to protect your crops.
Strawberry growers know that gray mold, also known as Botrytis rot, can decrease marketable yield and destroy profit potential. It can affect all areas of strawberry production, causing challenges not only in the field, but also during storage, transport and marketing of strawberry fruit.
What Causes Gray Mold in Strawberries?
The disease gets its name from the visible, fuzzy, gray-colored mold that appears in masses that infects all parts of the strawberry plant. The most damage to potential profit occurs when flowers and fruit are affected. According to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, gray mold can result in yield losses greater than 50%.
A combination of high temperatures and wet conditions is optimal for gray mold development in strawberry fields. Recent weather conditions and hurricanes in the Southeast region may be cause for concern for strawberry growers in these areas.
Precautions must be taken sooner rather than later to prevent this disease from affecting your strawberry yield potential this season.
Gray Mold Management Tips
The University of Florida recommends cultural and chemical practices for gray mold management, including the removal of diseased fruit from under the plant canopy to reduce the spread of infection. You should also consider preventive applications of an effective fungicide spray to control gray mold infections in your strawberries.
Under intense gray mold pressure, Miravis® Prime fungicide can recharge your spray programs and help produce more marketable strawberries. Miravis Prime is powered by one of the highest-performing succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) molecules available — ADEPIDYN® technology (FRAC group 7) and fludioxonil (FRAC group 12). In a trial testing strawberry disease sensitivity to botrytis (gray mold), strawberries treated with Miravis Prime fungicide produced fewer infected fruit than competitors.
In addition to gray mold, Miravis Prime can also help control powdery mildew and anthracnose in strawberries. It remains stable on the leaf surface for even distribution and disease protection throughout the growing season and post-harvest transit.
Learn more about how Miravis Prime can help you manage and prevent the spread of damaging diseases in your strawberry fields today. For additional information, reach out to your Syngenta representative.
- Gray mold, or Botrytis rot, can decrease strawberry yields by up to 50%.
- Recent weather conditions in the Southeast underscore the importance of preventive disease management measures.
- Cultural practices and Miravis® Prime fungicide can protect yields and help produce more marketable strawberries.
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