Anthracnose of Pepper
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Anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.) appears on ripening fruit in the form of sunken, circular spots (lesions), but may also develop on immature fruit. Lesions enlarge and darken over time, and concentric patterns may be observed. Under humid conditions, salmon-pink masses of spores may be visible oozing from fungal fruiting bodies (acervuli).
Anthracnose on fruit.
(Photo: David Langston, UGA, Bugwood.org)
Management:
- Purchase pathogen-free seed and transplants
- Manage weeds (potential alternative hosts)
- Avoid overhead irrigation
- Apply protectant fungicides
- Rotate with non-host crops
- Promptly destroy crop residues after harvest
- Deep plow to bury residual inoculum
