How to Treat Anthracnose in Infected Soil

Anthracnose is a fungal disease which affects plants of all types. Infected plants have stunted growth, leaf discoloration, and dark and brown lesions on stems. The lesions also influence and destroy food crops. Salmon-colored fruiting spores may develop around the lesions during humid, warm weather, and also plants heavily contaminated with anthracnose might fall. Anthracnose is a soil-borne disease that thrives under particular conditions. Although removing the disease’s dander from polluted soil is almost impossible, you can take a number of measures to prevent, treat or control the fungus.

Ample and Rapid Spread

Anthracnose spores move through ground and also spread by means of water, such as raindrops, runoff, irrigation and dew. The spores spread rapidly, germinating in no more than two to four hours when conditions are favorable. Anthracnose feeds on a server, however, the spores can live in the soil three to nine months, even when a host plant is not present. Commercial farmers frequently treat anthracnose with methods such as fumigation, harsh chemicals and solarization, which applies sunlight to heat ground around 122 degrees Fahrenheit to a depth of 14 inches. Those methods are impractical or dangerous for home gardeners to use, however. The very best at-home remedy for anthracnose is to starve the inoculum and lessen the spore inhabitants.

Removal of Infected Plants

If you see signs of anthracnose, remove each contaminated plant and all surrounding plant debris instantly. The spores reproduce on diseased plant tissue for as many as six days. Spores will also be able to overwinter in the ground and on infected plant debris, resulting in additional infection the next growing season. Remove, bag and toss away all infected plant debris to cut the fungi’s food resource. Don’t compost contaminated plant material since your compost pile might not be warm enough to kill the fungal spores. The spores may survive up to fourteen days on lawn tools as well as gloves and clothing stored in room temperature. So, wash your gloves and other gardening clothing, and disinfect your lawn tools to stop additional plant and soil contamination.

Cultural Practices

Following good cultural practices is the best method to keep anthracnose-infected soil from harming plants. Because anthracnose can survive for extended intervals and overwinter in soil, prevent planting new plants in which plants were previously contaminated. Place mulch around the ground surface around existing plants to keep the fungal spores from splashing out of the soil and onto plant tissue; however, ensure the mulch does not sit straight against plants’ stems or bases. Plant each kind of plant at its proper thickness to guarantee plant leaves do not touch with the soil. Heavy or fruit-bearing plants ought to be caged and staked to prevent their contact with soil. Crop rotation as well as proper air flow and sunlight lessen the case of anthracnose fungus. It’s also important to water plants in morning, which allows them a lot of drying period, reducing the case of respiratory disorders.

Preventive Environment

The very best method to keep anthracnose fungal spores at bay is to provide unfavorable conditions for fungus to develop. Anthracnose grows in soil during periods of high rainfall and moist or humid conditions. Dry conditions with plenty of air flow are unfavorable for it. The fungal spores which stay in the soil after contaminated crops have been eliminated are asexual. If, however, the soil does not provide favorable conditions for the spores to reproduce, the spore population slowly decreases.

See related