THE CONTROL OF STRAWBERRY DISEASES BY SANITATION

D.E. Legard, C.K. Chandler, J.A. Bartz
Because of the inability of fungicide spray programmes to control strawberry diseases in Florida, we evaluated the control of fruit rots by field sanitation. Most growers in Florida leave diseased and deformed berries in the field. However, diseased and senescent tissue can be an important source of inocula for fruit rots. During the 1995–96 season, we conducted a sanitation experiment on strawberry cultivars Oso Grande and Sweet Charlie. Three different treatments were evaluated: a conventional fungicide programme (i.e. weekly applications of captan plus applications of iprodione during peak bloom periods) with no sanitation (i.e. unmarketable berries left in alleyways within plots and senescent foliage left on plants and in rows); a conventional fungicide programme plus sanitation (i.e. removal of senescent and diseased plant material); and sanitation only. Berries were harvested twice per week for 16 weeks. Marketable and unmarketable yields were measured and the incidence of the different fruit rot diseases determined. Postharvest losses from grey mold (Botrytis cinerea) were also evaluated from three harvests. Very low incidences of fruit rots were observed at harvest during the season. No significant treatment effects were detected at harvest with ‘Oso Grande’. However, with ‘Sweet Charlie’, both the fungicide only and the combined fungicide and sanitation treatments had a significantly lower incidence of grey mold fruit rot than the sanitation only treatment. In the postharvest study, large differences were observed between treatments. Berries from the combined fungicide and sanitation treatment of both cultivars had significantly less grey mold than the fungicide only and the sanitation only treatments.
Legard, D.E., Chandler, C.K. and Bartz, J.A. (1997). THE CONTROL OF STRAWBERRY DISEASES BY SANITATION. Acta Hortic. 439, 917-922
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.439.150
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.439.150
Botrytis cinerea, grey mold, Fragaria x ananassa, disease management

Acta Horticulturae