Humidity can wreck strawberry crops

7th July 2021

Recent wet spells alternating with high temperatures have produced the ideal conditions to spread fungal diseases around a strawberry bed. Humid conditions at ground level where rain keeps the leaves wet have brought on leaf spot, powdery mildew and most commonly botrytis, which can move rapidly through clusters of berries until they all rot instead of swelling and ripening. Noticeably the fruit at the edges of the bed, with better air circulation, is less likely to rot.