The Other Enemy
After working all summer long your crop is almost ready. Now is the most dangerous time for you and your plants. I am talking about Botrytis or gray mold.
Botrytis blight or gray mold is a fungus disease which infects a wide array of annual and perennial plants. There are several species of the fungus Botrytis which can cause blights; the most common is Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis infections are favoured by cool, rainy, spring and late summer weather usually around 15°C (60°F). Gray mold can be particularly damaging when rainy, drizzly weather lasts for several days.
Botrytis cinerea can infect asparagus, bean, beet, cannabis, carrot, celery, chicory, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, grape, lettuce, onion, pepper, potato, raspberry, rhubarb, shallot, strawberry, tomato, turnip, and more. Botrytis blight can affect leaves, stems, crowns, flowers, flower buds, seeds, seedlings, bulbs, and just about any other part of a plant with the exception of the roots. Unfortunately, this fungus usually prefers certain plant parts, on each kind of plant it attacks. It attacks the plants’ buds and turns it into mush! It will often start on damaged leaves and stems inside the bud. When removing leaves try to take the whole leaf and leaf stem from the plant. If you take leaf and not the leaf stem, it starts to decay then falls off the plant or it is trapped in the bud and molds.
The best way to manage this disease is by inspection and cleaning. While inspecting plants, carry a paper bag or something bigger for sanitation. Remove blighted leaves, blighted bud or entire plants infected at the base and place them in the paper bag so that they may be discarded away from your garden. It is best not to do any cleaning when plants are wet with dew or rain since this could spread fungal spores. Likewise avoid overhead watering or misting plants especially if Botrytis blight has been a problem in the past. No fungicides are registered for use on plants. I do not recommend any fungicide!
Then spray the infected area of the bud or plant with Dr. Hornby’s Piranha. It’s not a fungicide. It’s a beneficial fungi that simply takes over and leaves no room for gray mold to grow. At 2 grams per 1litre you can harvest within two days of spraying.
A friend recently told me about a new product from Dr Hornby, Scorpion Juice. He said it acts like a vaccination for the plant, triggering the plant’s defence mechanism to respond faster to diseases, making the plants more disease resistant and increase the resin and flower production. Plants are also more frost resistant. If anyone has used Piranha or Scorpion Juice, tell me about how it worked for you.
With continuous inspection and careful cleaning, gray mold can be effectively managed. Keep an eye out for the silvery-gray mold and/or tiny black spots which are sure signs of this disease.
Think and be safe.
Indoor Gardener October 2005
After working all summer long your crop is almost ready. Now is the most dangerous time for you and your plants. I am talking about Botrytis or gray mold.
Botrytis blight or gray mold is a fungus disease which infects a wide array of annual and perennial plants. There are several species of the fungus Botrytis which can cause blights; the most common is Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis infections are favoured by cool, rainy, spring and late summer weather usually around 15°C (60°F). Gray mold can be particularly damaging when rainy, drizzly weather lasts for several days.
Botrytis cinerea can infect asparagus, bean, beet, cannabis, carrot, celery, chicory, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, grape, lettuce, onion, pepper, potato, raspberry, rhubarb, shallot, strawberry, tomato, turnip, and more. Botrytis blight can affect leaves, stems, crowns, flowers, flower buds, seeds, seedlings, bulbs, and just about any other part of a plant with the exception of the roots. Unfortunately, this fungus usually prefers certain plant parts, on each kind of plant it attacks. It attacks the plants’ buds and turns it into mush! It will often start on damaged leaves and stems inside the bud. When removing leaves try to take the whole leaf and leaf stem from the plant. If you take leaf and not the leaf stem, it starts to decay then falls off the plant or it is trapped in the bud and molds.
The best way to manage this disease is by inspection and cleaning. While inspecting plants, carry a paper bag or something bigger for sanitation. Remove blighted leaves, blighted bud or entire plants infected at the base and place them in the paper bag so that they may be discarded away from your garden. It is best not to do any cleaning when plants are wet with dew or rain since this could spread fungal spores. Likewise avoid overhead watering or misting plants especially if Botrytis blight has been a problem in the past. No fungicides are registered for use on plants. I do not recommend any fungicide!
Then spray the infected area of the bud or plant with Dr. Hornby’s Piranha. It’s not a fungicide. It’s a beneficial fungi that simply takes over and leaves no room for gray mold to grow. At 2 grams per 1litre you can harvest within two days of spraying.
A friend recently told me about a new product from Dr Hornby, Scorpion Juice. He said it acts like a vaccination for the plant, triggering the plant’s defence mechanism to respond faster to diseases, making the plants more disease resistant and increase the resin and flower production. Plants are also more frost resistant. If anyone has used Piranha or Scorpion Juice, tell me about how it worked for you.
With continuous inspection and careful cleaning, gray mold can be effectively managed. Keep an eye out for the silvery-gray mold and/or tiny black spots which are sure signs of this disease.
Think and be safe.
Indoor Gardener October 2005