Plant Pathology Infobytes

July 14, 1999
"Hang 'Em High" to Control Buckeye Fruit Rot of Tomato

Experienced home gardeners realize that vegetable pests often make "surprise attacks," and part of the crop may be lost in short order to disease and injurious insects. An example of this is buckeye rot of tomato, which has recently become a widespread problem in many gardens. Buckeye rot, combined with another disease -- tomato spotted wilt -- has made tomato production a real challenge for Mississippi gardeners this season.

How can you determine if your tomato fruit are affected by buckeye rot? The early stage of this disease is marked by a grayish-green discoloration over part of the surface of the tomato. Within a few days, the infected area changes to a dark brown color and is marked by a "banded" appearance of light and dark brown infected tissue. The banding is a characteristic symptom of buckeye rot.

Since fungicides aren't very effective for buckeye rot and resistant varieties aren't available, home gardeners have few control options for this troublesome disease. What's the best way to handle buckeye rot? Two approaches will help. The first involves the use of plant stakes or support cages. While it's late to carry out either technique at this point in the season, consider staking or caging for the fall tomato crop. Plant support is the first line of defense for buckeye rot.

This control technique is effective since the buckeye rot fungus lives in the soil and tomato fruit in contact with the soil surface quickly become targets of the fungus which causes the disease. Other fruit within a foot or so of the ground line may also be invaded when rain splashes soil particles containing the buckeye rot fungus onto fruit surfaces, so "hang ëem high" to reduce soil contact and soil splash onto fruit.

Along with plant staking, it's a good idea to use mulch to further cut down on soil splashing. Mulching with plastic, newspaper, pine straw, and similar materials provides a barrier between the soil surface and tomato fruit formed closed to the ground. The mulch will reduce soil splash in heavy rains and thus reduce fruit infection by the buckeye rot fungus. Plus, think of the other benefits of mulching, such as moisture conservation and weed control.

Mulches and staking will also cut down on the incidence of early blight, anthracnose, Septoria blight, and other tomato diseases. For further information on this and other diseases of concern to home gardeners, check with us at the County Extension Office.



Written by the late Dr. Frank Killebrew

A black line that separates the body text from footer information