0008 : Diagnosis of Strawberry Diseases
This is an entry in the Strawberry Plants Library here at Strawberry Plants .org. Continue reading for summarized information. The entire resource may be accessed or downloaded by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.
How to Identify Strawberry Diseases: Summary
This resource is a guide to identifying strawberry diseases. Originally published by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, it was written by Charles W. Averre, William O. Cline, Ronald K. Jones, and Robert D. Milholland. While specifically written for North Carolina farmers, the information holds true regardless of location. Strawberry growers or home gardeners with sick strawberry plants will likely benefit from this resource.
This document contains a photo catalog of all the most common strawberry pathogens as well as pictures of the damage done by strawberry pests and parasites. The strawberry plant diseases and pests discussed are: scorch, leaf spot, leaf blight, powdery mildew, gray mold, botrytis fruit rot, leather rot, anthracnose fruit rot, southern stem blight, southern stem blight sclerotia, anthracnose, anthracnose petiole lesions, anthracnose crown symptoms, red stele in field, red stele in roots, black root rot, northern root knot nematode, slime mold, the lesion nematode, leak, and spring dwarf. (for additional information, visit the Strawberry Plant page.)
If your strawberry plants appear to be infected or preyed upon by a parasite or best, be sure to visit this identification resource to help you identify the cause of your problems.
File Type: .pdf
Length: 5 pages
First strawberry of the season was picked in Western WA. when I noticed at the base of one strawberry, below the leaves it looked as if someone had spit on the underside of the leaves. It is all foamy. Is this the beginning of powdery mildew. I am unable to find any strawberry pictures of diseases that comes close.
Linda Hjelm,
It sounds like you have a spittle bug infestation. Powdery mildew usually doesn’t present like that. The spittle bugs are a relatively minor pest. They do suck some sap from your plants, thus weakening them, but generally won’t kill the plants. The “spit” on the underside of the leaves is the foam used by the spittle bug to hide the adult and baby spittle bugs.