Integrated control of Mycosphaerella

This information was last updated in 2015.

The best strategy to counter Mycosphaerella is currently a combination of measures using integrated pest management.

Integrated control

The best strategy to reduce Mycosphaerella problems is a combination of:

• Strict hygiene
• Climate control
• Cultural practices
• Biological and chemical control
• Disease forecasting/prediction

Since chemical control is currently limited, preventative measures such as leaf removal or hot knives are needed tomanage Mycosphaerella problems.

Labour intensive measures

Most climate and cultural measures – such as maintaining a drier climate, picking flowers and using hot knives – either reduce production or are more labour-intensive.

They can be used during times of the day, or parts of the glasshouse, with the highest Mycosphaerella risk, to minimise the extra labour.

Spore traps or disease warning models can help identify the areas or times of day when these measures are appropriate.

Using more data loggers will help to establish horizontal differences in temperature and RH and will help to optimise climate control.

A clean start

The overall conclusion is that it is crucial to have a clean start to the season and create a balanced crop.

When it comes to climate settings, it may also help to consider the day-to-day weather conditions. This will avoid extremes in temperature, humidity, and root pressure. More use of biological and cultural control could be beneficial, too.

It is important to note that since 1 January 2014, the Sustainable Use Directive requires growers to have an IPM plan in place.

Such IPM measures need to be implemented before the decision is made to use a conventional crop protection product such as fungicide.

The information on these pages will help you manage this.

Authors

This information was originally authored by Aleid Dik and Martin McPherson