Horticulture/Sclerotium rolfsii

Southern Blight is a serious fungal disease affecting a wide variety of both food crops and ornamental plants. Southern blight is a serious problem for both agriculture and the nursery industry, and is very hard to eradicate once established in a garden.

Symptoms and Signs
Affected plants show signs including wilted leaves and soft, rotten crowns, often followed by the death of the infected plant.

The fungus is microscopic when inside the plant tissue, but eventually the organism forms sclerotia, which are an asexual dormant body which are visible to the naked eye, and look like white, yellow, or brown mustard seeds.

Life Cycle
The fungus overwinters as a sclerotium, which is a dense mass of hyphae with a hard outer shell. When Warm, humid conditions are present, the sclerotia "germinate", and infect plant parts. The pathogen is not systemic on the plant, so removing infected parts can help control the disease.

Host Range by Genus

 * ../Allium/ (Onion, garlic)
 * ../Amaryllis/
 * ../Ananas/ (Pineapple)
 * ../Apium/ (Carrot, celery)
 * ../Arachis/ (Peanuts)
 * ../Beta/ (Beet)
 * ../Brassica/
 * ../Capsicum/ (Pepper)
 * ../Chrysanthemum/
 * ../Cichorium/ (Endive, escarole, chicory)
 * ../Citrullus/ (Watermelon)
 * ../Coffea/ (Coffee)
 * ../Colocasia/ (Taro)
 * ../Cucumis/ (Cucumber, melon)
 * ../Cucurbita/ (Squash)
 * ../Cynara/ (Artichoke)
 * ../Cynodon/ (Bermudagrass)
 * ../Dianthus/ (Carnations, pinks)
 * ../Delphinium/
 * ../Digitaria/ (Crabgrass)
 * ../Dioscorea/ (Yam)
 * ../Glycine/ (Soybean)
 * ../Gossypium/ (Cotton)
 * ../Hemerocallis/
 * ../Hibiscus/
 * ../Hosta/
 * ../Ipomoea/ (Sweet potato, morning glory)
 * ../Iris/
 * ../Lactuca/ (Lettuce)
 * ../Lagenaria/ (Gourds)
 * ../Lycopersicon/ (Tomato)
 * ../Mangifera/ (Mango)
 * ../Medicago/ (Alfalfa)
 * ../Musa/ (Banana)
 * ../Narcissus/
 * ../Nicotiana/ (Tobacco)
 * ../Petroselinum/ (Parsley)
 * ../Phaseolus/ (Beans)
 * ../Physalis/ (ground cherry)
 * ../Pisum/ (Peas)
 * ../Polianthes tuberosum/ (Tuberose)
 * ../Rheum/ (Rhubarb)
 * ../Saccharum officinarum/ (Sugar cane)
 * ../Solanum/ (eggplant, tomato, potato, etc.)
 * ../Spathiphyllum/ (Peace Lily)
 * ../Tulipa/ (Tulip)
 * ../Zea/ (Corn)
 * ../Zingiber/ (Ginger)