Disease Management for Producing Fresh Strawberry Plants

Diseases

• Strawberries are susceptible to a number of diseases, such as verticillium wilt, root necrosis and botrytis fruit rot, also known as gray mold. Each is a fungal disease transmitted to plants in the air and with aid from insects that transfer spores from plants to plants. Although the symptoms of each range from wilting, discolored foliage to fruit lesions, all of them severely diminish the plant's health -- and if not addressed, the plants die.

Care and Maintenance

• Proper care and maintenance practices reduce plant disease. Although strawberry plants need well-drained soil to foster normal growth and development, don't choose areas that are overly wet and where water pools. Too much moisture creates conditions that promote disease. Choose a fertilizer with an equal amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium; too much nitrogen leads to excess plant growth that boosts fungal growth. Don't transplant new plants in soil that previously contained tomatoes, potatoes or peppers for a minimum of five years to reduce the chance of disease spread. Eliminate weed growth manually or with chemical-control methods.

Management

• Don't try to salvage a diseased plant. Remove plants immediately after they show signs of decay, and carefully dispose of their waste by burning it. Treat remaining plants with a fungicide when dealing with a foliar or fruit disease, such as rhizopus rot and botrytis fruit rot, to prevent it from spreading to healthy plants. Apply the fungicide in seven- to 10-day cycles from the point of bud break until harvest. A fungicide isn't as effective at curtailing certain root and crown diseases, like black root rot or verticillium wilt.

Considerations

• Select nearly disease-free strawberry plants, such as tribute, tristar and guardian, for your garden. Purchase strawberry plants from a reputable nursery where you're certain to get a young plant. Older plants are more apt to carry disease. Also, choose plants cultivated in the western U.S. or Canada that carry a lower risk of disease, like leaf blight, than plants from the eastern U.S. Pick fruit in the morning when temperatures are cooler to prevent plants from injury; wounded plants are more prone to disease.