Phytophthora Blight

Symptoms

Sudden permanent wilt with a dark water-soaked lesion girdling the stem at the soil line, often taking whole rows within days of a heavy rain. On fruit it appears as a white, yeast-like growth.

Management

A water disease before it is a plant disease: raised beds, ruthless drainage, and never irrigating from a pond that drains an infested field. Resistant bell varieties carrying Pc resistance changed commercial production where the pathogen is established, though resistance is partial and physiological races differ.