White Mold Information

Crops

• White mold effects a wide variety of broad leaf plants but is most hazardous to crops like soybeans, potatoes, canola and sunflowers.

Growth and Transmission

• Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a highly successful airborne pathogen. The fungus stays embedded in the soil throughout the winter and germinates into mushroom-like spores in the spring. It may be transmitted to plants via airborne spores or directly grow on the roots to form a mycelium.

Necrotrophic

• White mold fungus is a necrotrophic organism, meaning it feeds on the dead tissue of other organisms--in this case, decaying plant matter.

Symptoms

• When infected, plants develop a white cotton-like coating of fungus on their leaves. Leaves may also dry out, turn yellow, brown and fall off if fungus is growing on the base of the stem or in the root system.

Prevention

• White mold can grow virtually anywhere with warm to temperate wet conditions. It is often combated with fungicides, crop rotation or introducing fungal parasites into the soil.