Commercial Disease Controls
The Pennsylvania State University
Cooperative Extension
Asparagus
Seed Treatment
Check the tag or contact your seed supplier to determine if seed has been treated.
For New Jersey Only: Dip seed in a solution containing 1 pint of Clorox per gallon of water for 1 to 2 minutes. Provide constant agitation. Use at the rate of 1 gallon of Clorox solution per 2 pounds of seed. Prepare a fresh solution for each batch of seed. Wash seed for 5 minutes in running water and dry thoroughly.
Disease Control
Fusarium Root Rot
For crown production, use treated seed and select a site where asparagus has never been grown.
For production fields, use disease-free crowns, transplants, or seed. Select well-drained fields where asparagus has never been grown. Where this is not possible, select fields that have not been in asparagus for at least 8 years. Apply Nemacur to production field to increase vigor.
Phytophthora Crown and Spear Rot
In fields with poor drainage or extensive low areas, use 1 pint of Ridomil Gold 4E per acre over the bed as follows:
Cutting fields: Apply 30 to 60 days before the first harvest and make a second application just before harvest.
New plantings: Apply after planting seedlings or after covering crowns. This treatment will not control Fusarium root and crown rot.
Purple Spot
Burn brush in winter to destroy overwintering sources of the fungus. Fungicide application is not practical during the production season because all spear surfaces must be protected and new spears emerge daily. Once the fernstalks are full size, apply the following and repeat every 2 to 4 weeks until frost:
azoxystrobin (Quadris--6.2 - 15.4 oz 2.08F/A or Amistar--2-5 oz 80WDG/A, or
chlorothalonil (Bravo, Echo, Equus)--2-4pt 6F/A or OLF
Rust
Control is necessary in 1- and 2- year beds, even with resistant varieties. Normally begin sprays in mid-August, but scout fields, particularly noncutting beds, for disease beginning in late June. Repeat three to four times at 7- to 10-day intervals. Alternate from among the following:
chlorothalonil (Bravo, Echo, Equus)--2-4 pt 6F/A or OLF, or
mancozeb (Dithane, Manex II, Manzate, Penncozeb)--2 lb 75DF/A or OLF, or
Nova--5oz 40WP/A
Note: Where trade names are used, no discrimination is intended
and no endorsement by the Cooperative Extension Service is implied.
Information provided is intended for consideration by the user, but is not
intended to be a recommendation. Production decisions should be based on
consideration of many types of information (scientific, experiential, economic,
legal, etc.) available to the user.
