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Southern blight (stem rot)

A branch or the whole plant wilts, and white cottony threads with small round seed like balls cover the stem at the soil line.

Athelia rolfsii (Sclerotium rolfsii) Fungus Fact sheet
Southern blight (Athelia rolfsii): white fungal threads around the base of a stem
Photo: 余世文, CC0, via iNaturalist

Crops it strikes

Mani Peanut Utaw Soybean Monggo Mungbean Sitaw String bean Kamatis Tomato Sili Chili Atsal Bell pepper Gabi Taro Karot Carrot Bulak Cotton Talong Eggplant

What you see

WiltingRottingPowdery or fuzzy growth

When to act

In hot, wet weeks look at the stem base of every wilting plant for white cottony threads and small round brown balls like mustard seed. Pull the first sick plants with the soil around them. A soil drench at the stem base pays only on high value crops with many sick plants.

What to spray

Active ingredients only, never brands. The FRAC group tells how it works: switch to a different group next time, so the disease does not learn to survive it. Spray only when the damage is worth the cost, and only with products registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority for your crop. Follow the label. The Shopee and Lazada links only show who sells something with that active ingredient, not a recommendation of any seller or product.

On labels for it, but not advised

  • Carbendazim: Southern blight shrugs off carbendazim and its kin. This group does not control it.

How to prevent it

  • Plow deep before planting to bury the seed like balls, which die when buried well below the surface.
  • Rotate with corn, rice or other grasses. A flooded rice crop kills many of the resting balls.
  • Keep mulch, dead leaves and soil heaped up off the stem base, and do not wound stems when weeding.
  • Pull sick plants with the soil around them and destroy them away from the field.
  • Solarize seedbeds and small plots under clear plastic for 4 to 6 weeks in the dry season.

Natural enemies and biological help

  • Trichoderma mixed into compost and placed in the planting hole or at the stem base helps hold southern blight down.

Where this comes from

Not sure it is this one?

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