The Dangers of White Mold

The fungus that causes the white mold disease of beans, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, has caused losses in the New York area, particularly in more recent years, and the white mold disease has been much more economically important in snap beans than in dry beans.

This is because in addition to direct losses in the field, detection of more than 2 percent diseased pods in a truckload at the processing plant may in turn result in a rejection of the whole load.

The white mold fungus is widely distributed throughout New York as well as throughout the rest of the United States, and in New York in particular, the white mold fungus is able to infecting various different crops, especially vegetables and fruits.

Symptoms of White Mold

There are various symptoms of white mold that you will be able to recognize, and so keeping your eye open is very important here. In New York, symptoms are usually first visible about one week after full bloom has occurred, and this is because blossoms are generally the first part of the plant to be colonized by the fungus.

The Disease Cycle

The disease cycle of the mold is also incredibly important to understand, and the fungus tends to produce irregular shaped, hard black structures that are called sclerotia. They are generally produced among the white, cottony strands on the surface of diseased plants, but as well occur inside the stems and pods.

The very first sign of apothecial formation is the development of the stalks, growing upward from the surface of the sclerotia. Remember that when changes in humidity cause drying, what usually happens is that the mature asci forcibly eject ascopores into the air, and these spores are then carried by the wind until eventually they end up landing on the surface of plants.

Control Measures

When it comes to the control measures that are successful for this type of mold, the method that you should choose will depend on you spraying at the proper time and completely covering the plants with the chemical, especially inside of the plant canopy.

The best method is always prevention, and so make sure while your plants are growing that you are using the proper pesticides and fungicides, and making sure that you feed and water the plants properly as well, so that they are healthy in general and will be able to better fight off disease if there is a risk.