Gray mold on strawberries

Consumers sometimes buy picture-perfect strawberries only to find them covered in mold after a few days. The cause: the gray mold fungus which infects the berries in the field but which remains symptomless until the fruit ripens. The fungus produces a velvety gray growth on the surface of the berry. Gray mold spreads in shipping containers when the fungus grows from a rotting berry to an adjacent healthy fruit. 100% of US strawberry acres are estimated to be infected with the gray mold fungus. Widespread infections are prevented with fungicide treatments.

“Gray mold is one of the most economically important diseases of cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa), and a significant threat to the United States’ $2.4 billion strawberry crop… Crop losses resulting from gray mold disease are especially severe under moist weather conditions, and occur not only during the crop growing season but also after harvest and during storage and transit.

The control of gray mold in commercial strawberry fields is largely dependent on the application of fungicides during bloom and fruit maturation.”

Authors: Grabke, A., et al.
Affiliation: Clemson University.
Title: Fenhexamid resistance in Botrytis cinerea from strawberry fields in the Carolinas is associated with four target gene mutations.
Source: Plant Disease. 2013. 97[2]:271-276.