No larvae have been detected yet. The relatively dry, mild weather over the past few days will help to slow disease development. All crops should be scouted carefully to detect diseases that are present. The warm wet weather that was experienced a few weeks ago was favorable for the development of bacterial diseases, and many have been observed on a variety of vegetable crops. Bacteria can cause many types of diseases including spots, blights, and soft rots.
Soft rots can potentially affect all crops.
The bacteria that cause these rots cannot directly infect plants, but enter through mechanical or insect damage. The bacteria can come from the soil, rotten vegetables, or be carried by insects. Soft rots can quickly break down vegetable tissue, and can be identified by a watery ooze from the plant, bulb, fruit or tuber that is infected. Management of soft rot diseases includes good sanitation and minimizing damage to plants in the field and during harvest. Plants may be healthy when harvested, but wounding at this time may allow for bacteria to infect and soft rot will develop during storage.