Anthracnose: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Anthracnose

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Anthracnose: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Anthracnose

Anthracnose-CSIRO Scienceimage via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal anthracnose attacks these young grapevine leaves.

What is anthracnose? This fungal disease affects many plants, including vegetables, fruits, and trees. It causes dark, sunken lesions on leaves, stems, flowers, and fruits. It also attacks developing shoots and expanding leaves. It can spread very quickly during rainy seasons.

Anthracnose is a general term for a variety of diseases that affect plants in similar ways. Anthracnose is especially known for the damage that it can cause to trees. Anthracnose is caused by a fungus, and among vegetables, it attacks cucurbits.

Anthracnose can survive on infected plant debris and is very easily spread. Like rust, it thrives under moist and warm conditions and is often spread by watering.

Identification

How to Identify Anthracnose

On leaves, anthracnose generally appears first as small, irregular yellow or brown spots. These spots darken as they age and may also expand, covering the leaves.
On vegetables, it can affect any part of the plant.
On fruits, it produces small, dark, sunken spots, which may spread. In moist weather, pinkish spore masses form in the center of these spots. Eventually, the fruits will rot.
On trees, it can kill the tips of young twigs. It also attacks the young leaves, which develop brown spots and patches. It can also cause defoliation of the tree.

Control and Prevention

How to Control Anthracnose

Remove and destroy any infected plants in your garden. For trees, prune out the dead wood and destroy the infected leaves.
You can try spraying your plants with a copper-based fungicide, though be careful because copper can build up to toxic levels in the soil for earthworms and microbes. For trees, try a dormant spray of bordeaux mix.

Prevent Anthracnose

Plant resistant plants, or buy healthy transplants.
Plant your plants in well-drained soil. You can also enrich the soil with compost in order to help plants resist diseases.
Water your plants with a drip sprinkler, as opposed to an overhead sprinkler. Don’t touch the plants when they are wet.
Keep ripening fruits from touching the soil.
Remember to rotate your plants every 2 to 3 years.

Plant Disease: Anthracnose Disease Info And Control – What Plants Get Anthracnose; Blossom-End Rot: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Diseases; Gray Mold: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Botrytis; Mosaic Viruses: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Mosaic Viruses; Powdery Mildew: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Garden Diseases; Rust: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Garden Diseases; White Mold: How to Identify, Control, and Prevent Garden Fungus Diseases; How to Identify and Get Rid of Aphids; Squash Bugs: How to Identify and Control Garden Pests; How to Identify and Get Rid of Rabbits

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