NE Indiana-Fort Wayne and NE China | White mold infections take place early in plant life; within a month or less of emergence. The organism is normally found in most soils and may be unchecked in its virility by other soil organisms on many soil systems. Anything which stops or helps control the amount of soil which is splashed up on the young plant will lessen the amount of inoculum that is available to infect the plant. That's your first variable. After that it's pretty much up to the plant to defend itself.
To mount an effective defense once the enemy is within the gates is no simple task and some plants are better equipped genetically than others. Most plants are better equipped genetically than what they appear simply because they are compromised nutritionally. It boils down to making lots of sugar to feed hopefully a huge array of microbes to help the plant mount the defenses. This is called SAR or systemically acquired immunity. Some soil microbes are more instrumental than others at stimulating the SAR response.
Getting much deeper than THIS WITH DETAILS IS A LOOOONG talk with lots of turns. The basics of adequate soil air and water exchange management always apply because that is how the beneficials will win (in the rhizosphere) before the battle ensues inside the plant. |
White mold observations.
