Charcoal Rot of Strawberry
Macrophomina phaseolina
Strawberryfungal
An emerging heat- and drought-favored crown disease, often turning up where soil fumigation was incomplete.
Symptoms
Water-stressed, collapsing plants with reddish-brown necrosis visible along the crown margins and the woody vascular ring when cut open.
Favorable conditions
- •High soil temperatures and low soil moisture
- •Incomplete pre-plant soil fumigation, especially along field margins
- •Rotation with susceptible vegetable crops (squash, cantaloupe, pepper, legumes) building up soil inoculum
Management
- 1Ensure thorough pre-plant soil fumigation
- 2Avoid drought stress on the planting
- 3Thiophanate-methyl (Topsin M) has shown some symptom delay in trials, though no fungicide is formally labeled for this use
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