Pests & diseases › Gray Mold (Botrytis)
Gray Mold (Botrytis)
Fluffy gray fungal growth on flowers, fruit and dying leaves. Worst on strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes in damp weather.
Symptoms
- Fluffy gray mold on rotting fruit
- Soft brown patches on strawberries and raspberries
- Flower buds turning brown and rotting before opening
- Tomato fruit with 'ghost spots' — pale rings
Lifecycle
Spores everywhere, infect through wounds or dying tissue. Worst in cool damp weather.
What to do
- Remove and bag affected fruit and flowers
- Improve airflow with pruning
- Bicarbonate of soda spray on lower fruit
- Avoid overhead watering
If it's bad
- Captan on strawberries (limited home-garden products)
Stop it coming back
- Wide spacing for airflow
- Mulch under strawberries with straw to keep fruit dry
- Pick fruit promptly when ripe
- Drip irrigation only
Crops it goes for
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.