Pest and Diseases
Back to Vegetables and Tropical Fruit
Bacterial Spot
BACTERIUM: Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria
INFECTS: foliar plant parts and fruit.
SYMPTOMS: foliar lesions are small (1/8 in) and dark brown, fruit spots are 1/8 in - 1/4 in. in diameter, raised, with a ruptured epidermis. Round to angular leaf lesions are typically brown with a chlorotic ring.
PATHOGEN SPREAD: bacterium can be seedborne, transplant-borne or spread from volunteer tomatoes or crop debris by wind-driven rain into stomates of foliage or wounds or insect punctures or fruit. It can also be spread mechanically.
FAVORABLE CONDITIONS: wet, windy weather with relatively high temperatures of about 80-89 F. Can be very severe in late summer, early fall.