Phytophthora blight typically develops in low-lying areas after a heavy rain and can spread quickly throughout the entire field.
Cultural Recommendations
Planting on a ridge or raised, dome-shaped bed will help provide better soil drainage. Use a minimum 3-year crop rotation with crops other than pepper, cucurbit, lima and snap beans, eggplant, or tomato. In fields with low-lying or wet areas, plant only Phytophthora-resistant/tolerant bell pepper cultivars such as ‘Paladin’, ‘Turnpike’, ‘Aristotle’, ‘1819’, ‘Intruder’, ‘Archimedes’, or ‘Revolution’. In heavily-infested pepper fields with a known history of Phytophthora blight, plant only tolerant cultivars to help reduce plant losses. If mefenoxam-insensitivity is known to exist in a field/farm, plant only tolerant cultivars. Do not apply mefenoxam or metalaxyl in fields where insensitivity is known to exist.
Chemical Recommendations
| Code | Product Name | Product Rate
|
Active Ingredient(s)
(*=Restricted Use) |
PHI
(d) |
REI
(h) |
Bee
TR |
| For control of the CROWN ROT phase of Phytophthora blight, apply one of the following at transplanting and 30 days later. | ||||||
| 4 | MetaStar 2E AG | 4.0 to 8.0 pt/A1 | metalaxyl | 7 | 12 | N |
| 4 | Ridomil Gold 4SL | 1.0 pt/A1 | mefenoxam | — | — | N |
| 4 | Ultra Flourish 2E | 1.0 qt/A1 | mefenoxam | — | — | N |
| 21 | Ranman 400SC | 2.75 fl oz/A2,3 | cyazofamid | 0 | 12 | L |
| 43 | Presidio 4SC | 3.0 to 4.0 fl oz/A3 | fluopicolide | 2 | 12 | L |
| 49 + 4 | Orondis Gold 1.67SC | See labels1,2,4 | oxathiapiprolin + mefenoxam | 0 | 4 | — |
Recommendations for Organic Practices
Organic bell pepper growers with a history of the Phytophthora blight should only plant cultivars that have resistance or tolerance to the disease. Long non-host crop rotations are critically important for organic production. Regular applications of Double Nickel (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) or Regalia (Extract of Reynoutria sachalinensis) as drenches or via the drip system prior to the onset of disease may help suppress Phytophthora blight development.