European brown rot
Disease
European brown rot
Monilinia laxa (Aderh. & Ruhl.)
Sclerotiniaceae: Helotiales
Distribution: Monilinia laxa is a plant pathogen that is the causal agent of brown rot of stone fruits.
This rot is potentially serious on tart cherry cultivars Meteor, English Morello and Danube (Érdi bõtermõ) but rare on Montmorency. Wet periods lasting for a day or more are required for severe blossom infection and spur dieback. Newly infected blossoms and later spur leaves turn brown and shrivel. One- to 3-inch-long elliptical cankers, often with gummosis, are formed at the bases of blighted spurs. The fungus may produce tufts of ash-gray conidia on blossom debris, dead spurs and cankers in the second or third season after infection. Fruit infections are rare.