Vine Rot & Cantaloupe

Using its sweet flesh, cantaloupe is a delicious crop for the back-yard garden. Cantaloupe creates tough-shelled, tough-skinned melons on vines that are yearly. It it takes full sunlight and bees for pollination, and ideal temperatures are 85 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The fresh fruit thrives in Sunset’s Environment Zones 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b and 4 through 2-4. Gardeners cantaloupe that is developing should be looking for vine rot, which may cause the whole plant to die. This quick collapse probably is triggered by two soil-borne illnesses — Monosporascus cannonballus and Acremonium cucurbitacearum.

Symptoms

The first indications that the plant is contaminated with Monosporascus cannonballus is dying or yellowing of crown leaves that are older. In just a day or two, the whole cantaloupe vine collapses. Soon after, the plant’s roots produce lesions and seven to 10 times later round black protrusions seem on the dead tissue. The signs of Acremonium cucurbitacearum are related to Monosporascus cannonballus. However, bands that are corky seem on the plant’s roots, which become somewhat darker or straw-coloured when contaminated. Within a week or two of harvesting, all this occurs in both instances.

Monosporascus Cannonballus

Indigenous to the South-Western United States, Monosporascus cannonballus was considered to be the main trigger of vine rot in cantaloupes. Its ascospores prosper at an optimum temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit, in accordance with a 1999 study in the journal “Subtropical Plant Science.” The disease is especially common in warm and semiarid climates; as well as the results happen significantly faster in crops with large whitefly infestations, large fruit loads and water tension.

Acremonium Cucurbitacearum

Although Acremonium cucurbitacearum is is actually a a problem with crops developed in Spain, it is often discovered in Texas and California cantaloupes at the same time. Acremonium cucurbitacearum ascospores prosper at an optimum temperature of 77 degrees F, reviews “Subtropical Plant Science” As the illness is fairly new, maybe not much is known about its biology and epidemiology.

Treatment & Prevention

No chemical control exists for Monosporascus cannonballus or Acremonium cucurbitacearum, and soil sterilization techniques including solarization are ineffective, the University of California Vegetable Investigation and Details Heart notes. To reduce the change of vine rot a void planting in the sam e places for two to three years, and plant species that are vulnerable to the illness, including Desert and Caravelle Mark kinds.

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