Anthracnose of Strawberry

Colletotrichum acutatum

high

Strawberryfungal

A fungal disease causing fruit rot and crown rot, most damaging in warm, wet climates.

Symptoms

Round, firm, sunken tan-to-dark-brown spots on ripening fruit with cream-to-salmon spore masses in humid weather; crown rot causes sudden wilting with reddish-brown marbled streaking inside the crown; small dark lesions on petioles and stolons and black-to-gray leaf spots.

Cause & development

Caused by several Colletotrichum species; C. acutatum mainly rots fruit while C. fragariae/C. gloeosporioides cause crown rot. Spread by splashing rain and irrigation water, not wind.

Favorable conditions

•Warm weather (25-30°C) with rain, dew, or high humidity
•Overhead irrigation and splashing water
•Infected transplants brought in from the nursery

Management

1Start with certified disease-free transplants
2Use drip irrigation instead of overhead sprinklers
3Remove and destroy infected leaves, crowns, and fruit
4Rotate strobilurin fungicides (azoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin) with captan or thiram

Treatment details

Organic treatment

Trichoderma harzianum biocontrol strains (e.g. strain T-39) suppress the fungus when applied preventively at regular intervals.

Chemical treatment

Captan or thiram as a protectant base; strobilurin fungicides (Abound, Cabrio, Pristine) rotated with Switch to manage resistance, no more than 2 consecutive strobilurin sprays.

Cultural management

Use clean, hot-water-dipped transplants, drip irrigation, straw mulch, crop rotation away from strawberry, and good weed control.

Back to the disease library