How to prevent and control pepper soft rot? A detailed explanation of the latest control methods

Pepper soft rot mainly damages the fruit, mostly occurring on green fruit. After the fruit is infected, water-soaked dark green spots first appear, which rapidly expand, and the lesions turn light brown. The flesh rots and gives off a foul odor, and the fruit becomes deformed. Most diseased fruits drop off, while a few remain on the branches and, after losing water, only grayish-white fruit skin is left hanging on the plant. Let us take a look together at the control methods for pepper soft rot!

Causes of pepper soft rot

Pepper soft rot is prone to becoming epidemic in low-lying fields, where planting density is too high, where there are many boring insects, or where there is a lot of continuous rainy weather and high humidity. The pathogen overwinters in the soil with diseased plant residues and becomes the primary infection source the following year. In the field, the pathogen enters through wounds via irrigation water or splashing rain, and after infection the pathogen can continue to spread through cotton bollworm and tobacco budworm as well as wind and rain, causing the disease to spread in the field.

Patterns of pepper soft rot occurrence

Pepper soft rot is a bacterial disease. The pathogen overwinters in the soil with diseased plant residues and spreads in the field with rainwater and irrigation water, becoming the primary infection source for the next year's field outbreak. The pathogen continues to spread through fruit-boring pests and invades through fruit wounds, leading to an epidemic. Fields with extensive management and low-lying, damp plots have severe outbreaks, and continuous rainy weather will aggravate the occurrence of soft rot.

Control methods for pepper soft rot

1. Crop rotation: Rotate with non-solanaceous and non-cruciferous vegetables for more than 3 years, cultivate strong seedlings, transplant at the right time, plant at a reasonable density, ensure ventilation, use plastic film mulching, drain field water promptly after rain, and reduce air humidity. Remove diseased fruits promptly, take them out of the field and bury them deeply to reduce sources of re-infection in the field.

2. Pest control: Choose one of the following for spraying: 2.5% Kung Fu emulsifiable concentrate at 5000 times dilution, 4.5% beta-cypermethrin at 3000~3500 times dilution, 2.5% deltamethrin at 2000 times dilution, or 20% fenvalerate at 2000 times dilution.

3. Disease control: At the initial onset of disease and after rain, choose one of the following for spraying: 50% DT fungicide at 500 times dilution or 72% agricultural streptomycin soluble powder at 4000 times dilution.