192 Diseases of Economic Plants 



EGGPLANT ^^3 



Wilt {Pseudomonas solanacearum) . See tobacco. 



Wilt {Nectria i-pomoece Hals.). — -Fields have been so 

 attacked that scarcely a fruit was gathered. The affected 

 plants when half grown take on a yellowish, sickly appear- 

 ance, the foliage wilts, the lower part of the stem becomes 

 coated with a whitish mold, and the plant usually dies. 

 Numerous small, pink perithecia are found upon the stem 

 just below, or at the surface of the ground. 



This disease is close kin to the wilt of cotton, and what 

 is said in that connection regarding treatment, applies here. 



Another wilt due to a CoUetotrichum is reported as the 

 cause of large loss in Utah. A similar wilt due to Verticillium 

 is also reported. 



Leaf-spot {Phomo-psis vexans (Sacc. & Syd.) Hart.). — 

 Plants in the hotbed are subject to leaf-spot attack, the 

 transplants dying, or it may appear later upon leaves and 

 fruit, and result in more or less serious leaf injury. 



Upon the leaf, large, irregular, brown or gray patches are 

 produced. Here numerous black pycnidia appear, and later 

 the leaf becomes torn. Upon the fruit the spots are at first 

 soft and watery, but later become dry and leathery. 



Treatment with Bordeaux mixture or ammoniacal cop- 

 per carbonate before transplanting is recommended, fol- 

 lowed by similar spraying in the field. Eight sprayings 

 with Bordeaux mixture in one test yielded 100 fruits, while 

 a similar plat, unsprayed, gave only about half as many. 

 Clean culture should be followed. 



Gray-mold {Botrytis fascicular is (Cda.) Sacc). — In this 

 rot the purple fruits show tan-colored blotches, followed 

 by softening of the tissue and rapid development of a gray 

 mold, the fruit in the meantime changing into a completely 

 rotten mass. 



Minor diseases 



Anthracnose {Gloeosporium melongence E. & H.). — Pits 

 appear upon the fruits, and in these the pink-tinted acervuli. 



