|  |
2006 Florida Plant Disease Management Guide: Sweet Basil1
Pam Roberts2Leaf Spot (Colletotrichum sp.)
Symptoms: Dark spots form on leaves and the dead tissue within leaf spots may drop out, causing a shot-hole symptom. The disease can cause defoliation, tip dieback, stem lesions, and sometimes loss of entire plants. Spores are water-splashed from diseased tissue.Cultural Controls: Sow seeds in sterile containers in sterile soil. Since wet conditions favor disease development, reduce leaf wetness periods by reducing humidity and increase plant spacing to increase air movement. Avoid overhead irrigation. Remove disease plants to reduce inoculum levels.
Bacterial Leaf Spot (Pseudomonas cichorii)
Symptoms: Spots on leaves are water-soaked, dark, and may be both angular and delineated by small veins in the leaves or show as irregular leaf spots. A wet stem rot may occur. Bacterium is reported to be seed-borne. The disease is favored by wet, humid conditions and is disseminated by splashing water or by handling and spreading infected tissue.Cultural Controls: Decrease moisture on plants with low humidity and sufficient plant spacing for adequate movement to reduce leaf wetness periods. Use disease-free seed and transplants. Remove diseased leaves and plants to reduce inoculum levels. Avoid overhead irrigation. Use clean, sterile equipment and do not move between infected and healthy plants.
Fusarium Wilt (Fusarium oxysporum)
Symptoms: Initial disease symptoms are yellowing of the shoots, distorted young leaves, and internal vascular discoloration of stems. As the disease advances, plants wilt and die. The pathogen is seed-borne and survives in the soil for many years.Cultural Controls: Use disease-free seed in sterilized soil. Seed may be disinfested. Rotate fields away from basil. Some resistant cultivars are reported.
Footnotes
1. This document is PP-113, one of a series of the Department of Plant Pathology, 2006 Florida Plant Disease Management Guide, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Date revised December 2005. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.2. P.D. Roberts, associate professor, Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, Immokalee, FL. Plant Pathology Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.
The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.
Copyright Information
This document is copyrighted by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) for the people of the State of Florida. UF/IFAS retains all rights under all conventions, but permits free reproduction by all agents and offices of the Cooperative Extension Service and the people of the State of Florida. Permission is granted to others to use these materials in part or in full for educational purposes, provided that full credit is given to the UF/IFAS, citing the publication, its source, and date of publication.