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Damping off is a disease of seedlings

Seedlings infected by damping off rarely survive to produce a vigorous plant. Quite
often a large section or an entire tray of seedlings is killed.

Visible damping off fungus growing on an emerging seedling.

Once plants have mature leaves and a well developed root system, they are better
able to naturally resist the fungus or mold that causes damping off. There is a
critical period of growth between planting and maturity when special care needs to
be taken to protect sensitive seedlings.

A wide variety of vegetables and flowers can be affected by damping off. Young
leaves, roots and stems of newly emerged seedlings are highly susceptible to
infection. Under certain environmental conditions, damping off pathogens can
cause root rot or crown rot in mature plants.

The fungi, Rhizoctonia spp. and Fusarium spp., along with the water
mold Pythiumspp. are the most common pathogens responsible for damping off.

Identifying damping off symptoms

 Seedlings fail to emerge from the soil.
 Cotyledons (the first leaves produced by a seedling) and seedling stems are water
soaked, soft, mushy and may be discolored gray to brown.
 Seedling stems become water soaked and thin, almost thread like, where infected.
 Young leaves wilt and turn green-gray to brown.
 Roots are absent, stunted or have grayish-brown sunken spots.
 Fluffy white cobweb-like growth on infected plant parts under high humidity.

What causes damping off

Mushy tan spots on these seedlings are signs of infection by damping off fungi that
can be caused by over watering.
All of the pathogens (fungi and molds) responsible for damping off survive well in
soil and plant debris.

The pathogens can be introduced into the seedling tray in several ways.

 Pots, tools, and potting media that have been used in previous seasons and
are not properly cleaned can harbor the pathogens.
 Spores of Fusarium spp. can be blown in and carried by insects like fungus
gnats, or move in splashing irrigation water.
 Pythium spp. is often introduced on dirty hands, contaminated tools or by hose
ends that have been in contact with dirt and debris.

Once introduced to a seedling tray, the damping off pathogens easily move from
plant to plant by growing through the potting media or in shared irrigation water.

Garden soil often contains small amounts of the damping off pathogens. If you use
garden soil to fill seedling trays, you could introduce the damping off pathogens
that cause the disease into the warm wet conditions best for seed growth.
 Seeds planted directly into the garden can also suffer from damping off. Disease is
particularly severe when seeds are planted in soils that are too cool for optimal
germination or when weather turns cool and wet after planting resulting in slow
germination and growth.

The damping off pathogens thrive in cool wet conditions. And any condition that
slows plant growth will increase damping off. Low light, overwatering, high salts
from over fertilizing and cool soil temperatures are all associated with increased
damping off.

Preventing and managing the disease

Infection of seedling stems by the damping off fungi results in thin wiry rotted stems
that cannot support the seedling.

 Sterilize all used pots and trays in a solution of 10% household bleach by soaking for
30 minutes.
 Use new potting mix to fill trays. Don't reuse potting mix and don't use garden soil or
compost.
 Clean all tools that will be used in planting and maintenance of the seedlings. Store
them in a clean location when not in use.
 Use a heating pad under trays to warm soil to 70-75°F for indoor plant production.
 Wait until garden soil has reached optimal temperature for germination before
planting outdoors. This temperature varies depending on the plant (see the table
below).
 Use a potting mix with good drainage. Water to keep it moist but not soggy. Use pots
with drainage holes to insure good drainage of excess water.
 Keep hoses and water heads off the floor.
 Use clean warm (68 – 77 F) water to water young seedlings. Cool water (50 F) slows
plant growth and increases the opportunity for infection.
 Do not apply fertilizer to seedlings until several true leaves have developed. Then
apply 1/4 strength standard soluble fertilizer. Many potting mixes contain slow
release fertilizer and do not require any fertilizer application.
 Provide 12-16 hrs of light from a soft white fluorescent or grow light to seedlings.
Light from a window is not enough.

How to tell late blight apart from other issues

Leaf infections are large brown blotches with a green gray edge. Photo: Michelle Grabowski.

An amorphous, brown leaf spot caused by late blight on potato. Photo: Howard F. Schwartz,
Colorado State University, Bugwood.org

Infected fruit have a dry brown rot. Photo: Michelle Grabowski.

Potato tuber infected by late blight are shrunken, discolored, and soft. Photo:Scott Bauer, USDA
Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org

Late blight infects leaves, stems and fruit

 Leaves have large, dark brown blotches with a green gray edge; not confined
by major leaf veins.
 Infections progress through leaflets and petioles, resulting in large sections
of dry brown foliage.
 Stem infections are firm and dark brown with a rounded edge.
 In cool, wet weather, entire fields turn brown and wilted as if hit by frost.
 In tomatoes, firm, dark brown, circular spots grow to cover large parts of
fruits. Spots may become mushy as secondary bacteria invade.
 In high humidity, thin powdery white fungal growth appears on infected
leaves, tomato fruit and stems.
 Infected potato tubers become discolored (anywhere from brown to red to
purple), and infected by secondary soft rot bacteria

Biology
 Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) is a water mold.
 Late blight favors cool (60°F to 70°F), damp conditions. Prolonged hot dry
days can halt pathogen spread.
 Late blight doesn’t appear in Minnesota every year.
  The most common routes of introduction each season are infected potato
seed tubers, infected tomato transplants shipped in from other regions, or
windblown sporangia (asexual spores) from the south that then infect fields
and circulate locally.
 P. infestans can overwinter in Minnesota if protected in potato cull piles.
Overwintering in a tomato production system is unlikely but infected tomato
fruits may give rise to infected volunteer seedlings the following season.
 Under cool, wet conditions, P. infestans can infect and produce thousands of
sporangia per lesion in less than five days. These sporangia easily become
air-borne, resulting in prolific spread of the pathogen.
 There are many different strains of P. infestans. These are called clonal
lineages and designated by a number code (i.e. US-23). Many clonal
lineages affect both tomato and potato, but some lineages are specific to one
host or the other.
 The host range is typically limited to potato and tomato, but hairy nightshade
(Solanum physalifolium) is a closely related weed that can readily become
infected and may contribute to disease spread. Under ideal conditions, such
as a greenhouse, petunia also may become infected.


 In rust
 White rust, caused by several funguslike oomycetes in the genus Albugo,
attacks many herbaceous plants. Light yellow areas develop on leaves,
with chalky-white, waxy, and then powdery pustules that finally darken
on the underleaf surface and other aboveground parts

Smut and cereals rust

Answer: Rust diseases can cause reduced growth, defoliation, and
yield loss in infected plants, leading to significant economic
consequences in agriculture. Smut diseases can result in reduced
grain quality, yield loss, and malformation of plant reproductive
structures, also leading to economic losses.
Rust and smut are fungal diseases seen in plants. They are obligate
plant pathogens. Rust is a fungal disease that causes a rusty yellow
appearance in the affected plants, while smut is a fungal disease that
causes a sooty, black appearance in the affected plants

Anthracnose

Anthracnose is a term used to loosely describe a group of related

fungal diseases that typically cause dark lesions on leaves. In severe
cases it may also cause sunken lesions and cankers on twigs and
stems.
Wilt

wilt, common symptom of plant disease resulting from water loss in leaves and stems
Some higher plant forms live on the surface of or parasitize other
plants and often cause harmful reactions in their hosts. These plants
can be placed in three groups: the epiphytes, the hemiparasites, and
the true parasites.
POSTharvest Disease

Postharvest diseases are those that appear and develop after harvest.
Individual “defective fruit” require additional handling (hand culling)
and may be threats to entire containers or storage units. Apply the
“disease triangle” to postharvest. Arguably if one leg of the “triangle” is
absent, disease does not occur.