idMicrobe: Tool to recognize plant diseases and consult home treatments

The Guide to Caring for Your Plants

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Learn to recognize pests and how to combat them

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Pest Guide

Symptoms, treatments, and recommendations for treating sclerotium disease, southern blight, or southern blight

Sclerotium Disease, Southern Blight Or Southern Blight

Sclerotium Rolfsii

Pathogen:

Fungus

Type:

Risk:

HIGH

Moho blanco

Remolacha de mesa

Southern blight: Symptoms and damage in table beets

Damage caused by southern blight in table beets

WHO CAUSES IT?

Sclerotium rolfsii is a fungal pathogen that affects a wide range of plants, including beets. This fungus is characterized by the production of sclerotia, dark brown resistance structures that can survive in the soil for several years. During favorable conditions of humidity and temperature, sclerotia germinate, producing hyphae that infect the roots and the base of the stems of the host plants. As the fungus invades the plant, it develops cottony white mycelium on the surface of the soil and infected tissues, favoring the spread of the disease.

SYMPTOMS

Sclerotium disease, southern blight or southern blight caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in beets manifests itself with a series of distinctive symptoms. Initially, infected plants show wilting and chlorosis of the lower leaves, which then progresses to the upper leaves. The roots and the base of the stem may show brown lesions and soft rot, accompanied by a layer of white mycelium and the presence of sclerotia in the infected tissue.

- Withering and chlorosis of the lower leaves.
- Brown lesions on the roots and base of the stem.
- Soft rot at the base of the stem.
- Presence of white cottony mycelium in the soil and infected tissues.
- Formation of brown sclerotia in the affected tissues.
- General decay of the plant.

Southern blight in table beets: How to recognize and treat it effectively

TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY

25°C - 30°C

80% - 95%

TRANSMISSION ROUTES

Direct contact with infected plants, Irrigation water, Contaminated cultivation tools, Remains of infected crops

Do you want to remove this pest? Choose how you want to treat it.

TREATMENTS

Chemical treatments

• AZOXISTROBIN 20% + DIFENOCONAZOLE 12.5% [SC] P/V
• AZOXISTROBIN 25% [SC] P/V
• DIFENOCONAZOLE 25% [EC] P/V
• FLUDIOXONIL 50% [WG] P/P
• FLUXAPYROXAD 7.5% + DIFENOCONAZOLE 5% [SC] P/V
• PIRACLOSTROBIN 6.7% + BOSCALIDE 26.7% ( ) [WG] P/P

Treatments allowed in organic farming

Biological treatments

• BACILLUS AMYLOLIQUEFACIENS subsp. plantarum (strain D747) 5% [SC] P/V
• PYTHIUM OLIGANDRUM (strain M1) 17.5% [WP] P/P
• TRICHODERMA ASPERELLUM (STRAIN T25) (1X10E8 CFU/G) 0.5% + TRICHODERMA ATROVIRIDE (STRAIN T11) (1X10E8 CFU/G) 0.5% [WG] P/P
• TRICHODERMA ASPERELLUM (STRAIN T34) 12% (1.0 x 10E12 cfu/kg) [WP] P/P
• TRICHODERMA ATROVIRIDE (STRAIN I-1237) (1x10E8 cfu/g) 5% [WP] P/P

Recommendations

- Practice crop rotation, avoiding planting beets and other susceptible plants in the same area for several years.
- Use resistant beet varieties when available.
- Maintain good field hygiene, eliminating and destroying remains of infected plants.
- Improve soil drainage to reduce excessive humidity that favors the development of the fungus.
- Apply specific fungicides as a preventive measure in areas with a history of the disease.
- Implement deep tillage practices to bury the sclerotia and reduce their viability.