Quality Nightmare Due To Lack of Post-Harvest Care – Botrytis

Botrytis is an airborne fungal disease that can affect all flower, fruit and vegetable tissues. Starting as a little while speck on the flower petals, it spreads right to the bottom of the flower. It gradually changes its colour to brown and finally all the petals fall off.

Botrytis blight or “gray mold” is a widely distributed disease caused by the fungus Botrytis species. Botrytis is an airborne fungal disease that can affect all flower, fruit and vegetable tissues. Starting as a little while speck on the flower petals, it spreads right to the bottom of the flower. It gradually changes its colour to brown and finally all the petals fall off.

Peonies and Roses are the most likely plants to show signs of botrytis. Other flowers, such as Chrysanthemum, Gerbera and Lisianthus are also very attractive to the Botrytis fungi.

Unfortunately, horticulturists haven’t developed any botrytis-resistant flower species. Gardeners must continue to battle this tenacious fungal flower disease by practicing good garden and greenhouse hygiene and cultural practices.

To minimize botrytis:

1. Keep your flowers dry (the buds and petals). Do not spray water or allow water to drip onto the Flower heads
2. Remove infected flower petals  or the entire bud and stem when required. This will keep botrytis from spreading to the rest of the flowers in a vase or arrangement.
3. Do not leave flowers in their sleeve or wrap any longer than necessary. If condensation builds up in the sleeve or wrap, open the bunch, wipe moisture off of wrap, fluff up the blooms and allow them to dry a bit before re-wrapping.
4. Keep good air circulation

When discussing fresh cut flowers and how to help them reach their maximum potential an extremely critical part of the cycle are the methods and techniques of Post-Harvest Care that are used starting at the time of cut. Too often flowers are harvested at the farms and transported to retail outlets only to be subjected to poor or non-existent post-harvest care when they arrive.

Strict adherence to the latest in Post-Harvest Care methods and treatments is a must. Fresh Cut Flowers prefer a clean environment and require proper nourishment, under these conditions they flourish.