Botrytis rot (Botrytis cinerea) Botrytis rot (Botrytis cinerea), also known as grey mould, is caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, and has become on the most serious diseases of tomato foliage and fruit. The fungus becomes established on dead leaves or stems at the base of the plant. A heavy grey growth of the fungus [...]
Bacterial speck, also known as Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria, Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tomato. Bacterial speck and spot are very difficult to distinguish from each other. However the control strategies are the same and both diseases attack the above ground organs of the plant. Bacterial speck symptoms Small water soaked lesions which develop during periods of rain, [...]
Never use chemical that are not registered by your local Department of Agriculture. A range of chemicals that can be used on cucumbers are provided below and must be followed to control most insects and diseases found in hydroponic production systems (in South Africa). Please check your local Agricultural extension officer for a list of [...]
Why Tomatoes Crack Just Before Harvest – And What You Can Do About It There's nothing quite as disappointing as walking through a tomato field and spotting perfectly good fruit split wide open. The crop looked excellent a few days ago, harvest was just around the corner, and then a heavy rainstorm rolls through. Suddenly, [...]
Cat-face tomato fruit Symptoms Fruits have a long scar at the blossom end that extends inwards and renders the fruit unmarketable and disfigured (abnormal). There are bands of scar tissue between swellings and cavities that extend deep into the fruit body. Most of these cat-face fruit ripen unevenly. Due to the scar tissue, cat-face fruit cannot [...]
Hollow fruit description Hollow fruit, also called puffy fruit or boxy fruit are angular in shape instead of round, however one should be careful since some tomato fruit are genetically more hollow or angular than other. The first signs inside the fruit are the lack of “gel” surrounding the seed, leaving a gap between the placental [...]
Severe zippering with secondary scarring of the tomato skin. Zippering symptoms Zippering are thin scars running from the top of the shoulder of the fruit down the length to the blossom end. These longitudinal scars have small transverse scars along it, which resemble a “zip” (thus the name). More than one of these [...]
Blossom drop Symptoms Blossom drop (flower buds abscise) occurs prior to anthesis under stress conditions. The early indications of blossom drop are the yellowing of the swollen area which joins the flower to its stem. After the flower has fallen or abscised, a small dried out stub is left over. Which is quite disheartening since there [...]
Blossom-end-rot (BER) Symptoms This physiological disorder looks like a typical fruit disease. The symptoms generally occur at the blossom-end of the fruit and begins with a light tan, water soaked lesions, which when enlarged, turn black and leathery. As in tomatoes and watermelons, blossom-end-rot usually appears when the fruit is about half-grown The affected areas first [...]
