Rhizopus Soft Rot of Seedless Greenhouse Cucumbers. R. M. Sonoda, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Research Center, Fort Pierce 33450. Plant Dis. 64:296-297. Accepted for publication 13 November 1979. Copyright 1980 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-64-296.

Rhizopus stolonifer incited soft rot of immature and mature seedless cucumbers in a greenhouse in south Florida. Infection of fruit appeared to follow establishment of the fungus on flowers. Spores of the pathogen were collected on plates of acid potato-dextrose agar exposed to air in the greenhouse. Fruit flies on affected fruit carried inoculum of the pathogen but did not effectively transmit the fungus to detached cucumber fruit. Field-grown Morgan melon were infected by the pathogen, but field-grown Poinsett and Marketmore cucumbers were not. Botran was the most effective fungicide in reducing infection.