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How to Identify and Control White Mold on Plants and Vegetables

Prevent White Mold Fungus in Your Garden!

Catherine Boeckmann
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Plant Diseases

Have you ever noticed dense white fuzz at the base of your plants—or have you seen mold symptoms on stems, leaves, or blossoms? Learn about white mold—a fungal infection—and how to prevent and control this plant disease.

What Is White Mold?

White mold, also known as sclerotinia, is a fungal disease that affects more than 360 different garden plants, including beans, peas, lettuce, and members of the cabbage family. White mold on tomato plants is sometimes called timber rot. 

Mold symptoms appear on blossoms, stems, leaves, and pods with water-soaked spots. Leaves wilt, yellow, and die, and pods may rot.

The host crops and plants are most susceptible during flowering, but young seedlings are also very vulnerable. White mold typically infects the plants early in the spring or summer and then develops unnoticed for a while. 

White mold fungus spreads spores in cool weather, which can infect other plants through the wind. This is why it is so important to catch white mold and destroy the infected plants quickly to stop the spread of the fungal plant disease.

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Identification

How to Identify White Mold Damage

White mold symptoms (signs of sclerotinia) tend to vary depending on the environment and type of plant, but here are some of the most common ones:

  • The stem might first appear to have a water-soaked part. At this point in the infection, the plant will look healthy from above.
  • Wilting of individual stems, especially at the base, with tan discoloration.
  • Infected stems may appear to have tan to dark brown lesions on them. From these lesions, a dense, cotton-like growth will form under conditions of high humidity.
green beans affected with white mold
White mold takes over a bean plant with its dense cotton-like growth.
Photo Credit: The Ohio State University. 
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Control and Prevention

How to Control White Mold

  • As soon as you notice any diseased plants, destroy them immediately.
  • If your soil is infected, remove as much of it as you can and replace it with clean soil.
  • You can use a barrier, such as plastic or mulch, to cover the infected ground to prevent the spread of the disease.

Prevent White Mold

  • Be sure to use well-drained soil and space your plants properly to avoid crowding. Also, remember to avoid areas with poor air circulation.
  • When watering your plants, try not to water the tops of them. Or water the plants early in the day so they have the chance to dry before nightfall. Learn more about the best times to water your plants.
  • You can also spray your plants with an approved fungicide to help prevent infection. Spray the plants right before they bud, then spray again a week later.
  • Control your weeds. Weeds can host this disease and spread it to your plants.
  • If possible, remove all crop residue after harvesting. If residue is left, this disease may develop in it. White mold spores are long-lasting, so they will survive the winter if given the chance.
Plant Disease
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Amy (not verified)

4 months 2 weeks ago

Why aren't there pictures included with the articles? This would help identify particular problems in case someone needs to search another article that is closer to what they are looking for.

Mary Formichelli (not verified)

4 years 9 months ago

What do I do when this happens to my house plants?
I put them outside, weather permitting, in spring and bring them back in when the weather begins to get cooler. (Fall)
Thank you, Mary Formichelli

Penny Nunez (not verified)

2 years 4 months ago

One method that will work to delay, if not offset permanent damage to the plants, or end in their death, is to cleanse the contaminated whitened areas thoroughly with a white vinegar base using a new sponge or soft rag. If the discretion returns you can try altering your watering method or habits (i.e. using a bulb or ice cubes instead of spray bottle, or integrating a watering routine three times weekly as to every other day, etc). Then also cleanse the affected areas again so that the contamination doesn't spread among the leaves or to the other plants. Good luck!

john carter (not verified)

6 years 2 months ago

Thanks For sharing this information. It’s Nice..!!!

john carter (not verified)

6 years 2 months ago

This is a great post. I like this topic.

Christina Tengan (not verified)

6 years 8 months ago

Hi, is it safe to eat the veggies in garden with white mold? If not, should I get rid of the dirt and start over? What do I do?? Thx

Barbara Moody (not verified)

5 years 7 months ago

I planted my first 8 x 2 raised garden. I put boards on each corner, with wire fence all around, nice. I put tomato's on one end & squash,
bell peppers & cucumber on the other. I covered the entire garden with sheets for more than a week, to prevent severe thunderstorms from destroying my plants. I took the sheets off today to find white mold under the first two tomoto plants, on the soil only & not on the plants. I scooped out all the mold from the soil. I was so excited to have vegetables starting to grow on all plants. Am I screwed after all my work, cost & excitement or can my garden be salvaged from this mold. Please please advise me what to do?? Thank you.

As long as the garden receives proper air circulation and is allowed to dry out between waterings, the white mold should be kept at bay. Consider placing landscaping fabric over the soil around the plants to prevent mold (and other diseases) from splashing up onto the plants from rain.

I have white sections outside in raised bed that is not yet even planted. Paid a good price for that dirt and don't know why it is showing up.
Also have one bed planted with lettuce and beets that has a greenish coating over top of dirt. What's going wrong? Please help me.

Donna Suhre (not verified)

6 years 5 months ago

There is a white fungus growing on the soil in our raised vegetable garden. We used chicken manure as fertilizer in the spring. The plants are growing great, but is it safe to eat the vegetables?