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Anthracnose: how to recognise and treat it

Disease

Anthracnose — Photo: Clemson University - USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Symptoms

Round, sunken spots on ripening fruit that darken in the centre, often with rings; in the end the whole fruit rots.
In wet weather, slimy salmon-pink or orange spore masses appear in the middle of the spots.
Sunken brown or black lesions on stems, leaf stalks and bean pods; on lupins the leaf stalks twist like a corkscrew.
Brown or tan leaf spots with a darker border; the centres may drop out, leaving holes.

Organic treatment

Pick off and destroy spotted fruit and leaves as soon as you see them; do not compost them.
Stake or trellis plants so fruit does not lie on the soil, and harvest ripe fruit promptly.
Spray a copper fungicide from fruit set, especially in wet spells; it protects healthy tissue but does not cure existing spots. Follow the label.

Chemical treatment

Fungicide with azoxystrobin, where approved for home use on the crop, from first fruit set; follow the label dose and pre-harvest interval and alternate with a fungicide from another group.

Reference information, not a guarantee. Read and follow the label of any product: dose, safety and the days to wait before harvest.

Prevention

Sow certified disease-free seed and never save seed from infected plants.
Water at the base of plants; sprinklers splash spores onto fruit and leaves.
Do not grow the same plant family in the bed for 3–4 years and clear plant debris at the end of the season.
Mulch the soil so rain does not splash spores onto lower leaves and fruit.

Plants it affects

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.