Chances are , you ’ve date this fungus yourself . Blue Mold Rot is one of the most mutual yield fungus kingdom around and it often evidence after the yield has been picked and deal at grocery . It is the most common destroyer of marketplace apple in the United States .
Host Plants
Although genus Penicillium spp . ( or expansum ) can appear on many types of seed - heart fruit , it ’s most predominant on apples . It ordinarily infect fruits after harvest , often being introduced through poor sanitation or quarantine procedure .
Symptoms
The most obvious symptom that manifests when Blue Mold is present is the premature rotting of the fruit . It commonly starts as small brown smear on the apple ’s skin , often around a wound or bruise , and spreads quickly . An entire Malus pumila can be half - moulder in a few minute and , as we all know , “ one shitty Malus pumila spoils the whole caboodle . ”
Life Cycle
Penicillium begins its lifecycle as a spore that can sit dormant for some meter . There are several species of Blue Mold , each of which has a more or less different growth pace or transmission hurrying . Few can dissemble fruit with unplowed skin , require a contusion or softening from over - ripeness to benefit a foothold . Once inside , the mould grow quickly .
The mold has two prick it use to spread . First , it multiplies quickly , spreading through the infected fruit very quickly . second , it generate off a carcinogen called mycotoxin patulin . This changes the flavor of the fruit should someone eat it , but it also work to compromise fruit around the one rotting , speeding their mature and resulting in easy skins through which the Penicillium can spread .
Once an apple is well - rotted , spore will seem as grey-haired - bloodless splotches – the hallmark of the penicillium family .
Creative Commons photo courtesy of OATSY40.
How Blue Mold Rot Impacts the Plant
This disease usually does n’t harm the tree or implant itself , though it potentially could if infected fruit is still on the vine . It ruins the harvest , however , and in the wild can prevent a tree from propagating if the seed are prematurely exposed due to the other hogwash of the apple .
How to Prevent Penicillium
Prevention is all about cleanliness during harvest and proper wax sealing after harvest . Storage methods that fend off bruising and keep the apples at sub - prize temperatures so the fungus ca n’t spread is also important . Before refrigeration , many farmers would store apple in single bushels , with cluster of apples kept apart from one another so that if one went bad , it would take no more than one bushel of others with it .
This was efficacious , in its way , but still meant a lot of loss . Most apples were quickly jar or pressed instead .
How to Treat Penicillium
Once it sets in , the only efficacious treatment is to discard and destroy the septic apples . Although some grower spray a antifungal on apples after harvest , it is a rare and often lour - upon praxis .
resource : http://decay.tfrec.wsu.edu / displayPage.php?id = pathlab&pn=20http://www.caf.wvu.edu / kearneysville / disease_month / bluemold0199.html
