Foot and root rot

Biological control of foot and root rot & damping off

What the soil-borne pathogens Pythium, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium have in common? They may be the causal agent of foot and root rot in your crop. Let’s get this over and done with thanks to biological control.

What damage can Pythium, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium cause?

• Damping off: the base of seedlings and plants can discolour and shrink, seedlings fall over and die.
• Root rot can be recognized by the appearance of brown to black root tips, less root development, brown roots, smaller and wilted plants and plants that can be easily pulled from the growing medium.
• Foot or crown rot is an infection that occurs at the stem basis. Typically is a stem lesion. Severe infection result in plant death.

How to protect your plants against foot and root rot?

For biological control of foot and root rot, you can rely on the biological fungicide ASPERELLO^® T34 Biocontrol^®.
What are the characteristics of this disease?

• The pathogens can survive in the soil for many years by means of their resting structures, e.g. sclerotia (Rhizoctonia), chlamydospores (Fusarium) and oospores (Pythium and Phytophthora)
• Spores and resting structures can also be transmitted through water splash, planting equipment, infected transplants, irrigation system (Pythium and Phytophthora)
• The optimum temperature depends on the pathogen