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How to prevent and control gray mold in carnations? These methods are very practical

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Carnation gray mold, also known as carnation flower blight, is a common disease of carnations grown in greenhouses and plastic tunnels. The disease damages the petals of the plant, causing brown spots and rot on the petals, and seriously affects the quality of cut flowers. Symptoms: The disease mainly occurs on petals and flower buds, and occasionally stems and leaves are also affected. In the early stage of the disease, affected flowers begin to show light brown water-soaked areas from the petal edges, and then several petals become tangled together by gray fungal growth. In the later stage of the disease, if the environment is humid, the petals rot, and a gray

Carnation gray mold, also known as carnation flower blight, is a common disease of carnations grown in greenhouses and plastic tunnels. The disease damages the petals of the plant, causing brown spots and rot on the petals, and seriously affects the quality of cut flowers.

Symptoms: The disease mainly occurs on petals and flower buds, and occasionally stems and leaves are also affected. In the early stage of the disease, affected flowers begin to show light brown water-soaked areas from the petal edges, and then several petals become tangled together by gray fungal growth. In the later stage of the disease, if the environment is humid, the petals rot, and a gray powdery mold layer, which is the conidia of the pathogen, is produced on them. Finally, the diseased flowers die, and after drying out they can remain on the plant for a long time. On affected flower buds, irregular water-soaked spots appear, and they become soft and rot, causing the flowers to fail to open, and a gray powdery mold layer is also produced on them.

Pathogen: The pathogen is Botrytis cinerea Pers., belonging to the phylum Deuteromycota, class Hyphomycetes, order Moniliales, genus Botrytis.

Disease pattern: The pathogen overwinters as sclerotia in diseased plant residues or in the soil. In spring of the following year, when conditions are suitable, it produces conidia to infect and cause damage. When the temperature is around 20°C and the humidity is very high, the disease occurs severely. In early spring and late autumn, low temperature and high humidity often lead to a major outbreak of this disease. Tissue-cultured plantlets are more disease-resistant than cutting-propagated plantlets. Red-flowered varieties are more disease-resistant than yellow-flowered varieties.

Control: ① Reduce sources of infection: promptly remove diseased plants and flowers and destroy them immediately. ② Strengthen cultivation management: increase temperature and ventilation to keep humidity low in the greenhouse. When watering, avoid leaving a film of water on the petals. ③ Chemical control: during the disease period or before cutting flowers, spray 75% chlorothalonil wettable powder at 500 times dilution, or 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 500 times dilution.

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