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A Strawberry Fruit Rot Caused by Dendrophoma obscurans. C. M. Howard, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Agricultural Research Center, Dover, Florida 33527; E. E. Albregts, Assistant Professor of Soil Chemistry, University of Florida, Agricultural Research Center, Dover, Florida 33527. Phytopathology 63:419-421. Accepted for publication 2 October 1972. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-63-419.

During recent years a new fruit rot has caused severe fruit losses in some Florida strawberry plantings of the cultivars Tioga and Fresno. Isolations from the fruit rot lesions consistently yielded Dendrophoma obscurans, the incitant of strawberry leaf blight. Inoculation of fruit and leaves of potted plants with isolates from leaf blight lesions and from fruit rot lesions proved that isolates from either source could cause fruit rot or leaf blight. When the isolates were grown on potato-dextrose agar, cultural characteristics and spore sizes were identical and were within the ranges previously described for D. obscurans.