Plant guide:🍓 Strawberries
Back to Plant Clinic
⚠ Critical🩺
Fungal
Verticillium Wilt on Strawberry Plants
Commonly affects: Fragaria × ananassa (Strawberry)
Older leaves wilt and develop brown, dry margins, with the whole plant declining gradually, especially noticeable during warm, dry periods.
Potential Causes
- 1Verticillium dahliae fungus, persisting in soil for years
- 2Planting in soil previously used for susceptible crops like tomatoes or peppers
- 3Stress from heat or drought accelerating symptom expression
Solution Steps
- 1Remove and destroy affected plants — there is no cure once established
- 2Avoid planting strawberries in soil previously used for tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant, which share susceptibility
- 3Choose Verticillium-resistant varieties for replanting
- 4Solarise soil in severely affected beds before replanting
Prevention Tip
Crop history matters — avoid planting strawberries where tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant grew recently, since they share susceptibility to this soil-borne fungus.
