Disease: Mango anthracnose

Pathogen: Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes

Hosts: Hosts of the Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes include mango, banana, coffee, papaya, cucurbits, avocado, and many other tropical fruits and vegetables.

Symptoms:

Flowers – Infections on the panicles (flower clusters) start as small black or dark-brown spots. These can enlarge, coalesce and kill the flowers.

Fruits – Prominent dark-brown to black decay spots or “tear stains”. Fruit infections are common and can create severe decay of fruits in orchards, in transit, at markets, and after sale. Spots may coalesce and penetrate deep into fruit, leading to extensive fruit rotting. At times, fruit damage is called "tear staining"; lesion-stains are created on the fruit surface where fungus spores wash along the fruit surface and drip down in water droplets that fall from infected twigs and panicles above the fruit. Fruits of some varieties can crack open.

Leaves – Infections begin as small, angular, brown to black spots. If tissue is young when originally infected, spots can enlarge to form extensive dead areas. Infections that begin in older leaves usually result in smaller lesions with a maximum diameter of 1/2 inch (6 mm) that appear as glossy dark-brown to black angular spots.

Stems – Dark-colored to black lesions can form on green stem tissues.

Signs: Spore masses on stems or in fruit lesions

Epidemiology: Mango anthracnose in Hawaii occurs and is the predominant disease of mangos in high-rainfall areas or during unusually wet periods or when there is heavy dew, from flowering until fruits are about half size. Spores of the pathogen are dispersed mainly by splashing rain or wind-driven rain.

IPM: Begin fungicide applications at the first appearance of panicles and continue spraying at recommended intervals until the pre-harvest waiting period is reached.

Fungicides*: BASIC COPPER, COPPER HYDROXIDE, NEEM OIL, CHLOROTHALONIL.

Back to the Mango Pest and Disease Image Gallery

*Registered for use in Hawaii on mangos as a food crop.

*Named fungicides not necessarily recommended by the University of Hawaii.

*Always follow the pesticide label instructions.

Compiled by Scot C. Nelson <snelson@hawaii.edu>, University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS)

Updated 13.December.2006