See:
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) - Gray Mold (Ghost Spot)
Greenhouse Plants, Ornamental - Gray Mold
Cause Botrytis cinerea, which also causes gray mold in ornamentals. It can appear on any aboveground plant parts.
Symptoms Affected tissue in high humidity usually is covered with the fuzzy gray-brown conidiophores and conidia (spores) of the fungus. Infections often begin on flowers and spread to fruit, leaves, and stems. Leaf lesions rapidly cover the entire surface. Infection can go into petioles and stems, which, if severely affected, may be completely girdled, killing tissue above the canker. Stem cankers have a distinctive brown and tan target-spot pattern.
Cultural control
- Remove all dead and dying plant parts from the greenhouse. Do not leave them in garbage containers in the greenhouse.
- Keep relative humidity at less than 90%, increase plant spacing, and do not splash water on foliage while watering.
- Use fans to increase air circulation.
- A calcium:phosphorus ratio of 2 or higher (measured in the leaf petioles) aids in control.
Chemical control Generally not effective unless cultural controls also are implemented.
- Copper formulations (Group M1) offer limited control.
- Cuprofix Ultra 40D at 1.25 to 3 lb/A on 7- to 10-day intervals. 48-hr reentry.
- Kocide 2000-O at 0.75 to 1.75 lb/A or Kocide 3000-O at 0.75 to 1.5 lb/A on 3- to 10-day intervals. O
- Regalia Biofungicide (Group P5) at 1 to 4 quarts/A on 7- to 10-day intervals. Does not benefit from the addition of an adjuvant. Preharvest interval is 0 days. 4-hr reentry. O
- Scala SC (Group 9) at 7 fl oz/A on 7- to 14-day intervals. Use only in a tank-mix with another fungicide effective on this disease. Apply only in well-ventilated plastic tunnel houses or glass houses. Ventilate for at least 2 hr after application. Do not apply within 1 day of harvest. 12-hr reentry.
Biological control
- Double Nickel LC at 1 to 6 quarts /A on 3- to 10-day intervals. 4-hr reentry. O
- LALSTOP K61 as a seed soak or dry seed treatment, soil-spray or drench, etc. See label for rates and application methods. 4-hr reentry. O
Reference Compendium of Tomato Diseases. 1991. St. Paul, MN: APS Press.