Protection Methods

- During cultivation

It is essential to remove sclerotia bearing seedlings and dead plants from nursery shelters and reduce nursery humidity by maximum ventilation. In fields, sprinkler irrigation should be avoided or to be used during the hottest parts of the day so that plants can dry before nightfall. When disease outbreaks occur in nurseries, see  e-phy link fungicides to be used. To prevent outbreaks in the field, a biopesticide could be incorporated into the soil in areas of high risk.


At the end of season, it is essential to remove and destroy infected plants and sclerotia.  Take all means practical to avoid spreading infected stems in the fields. 

- Next crop

If outbreaks have occured in the nursery, a soil disinfection should be done with a fumigant prior to re-use.  Hygienic measures recommended in the section of Diseases in the nursery and after planting should be implemented.

Tobacco fields should be well drained to prevent the formation of apothecia in wet areas. It is essential to plant healthy seedlings in fields that did not have crops sensitive to this fungus, in particular sunflower ...

There are some small differences in susceptibility to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum  between  different tobacco types and some varieties of a given type, however none of these differences are great enough to be useful for disease control.

*In order to give a "universal" character for the proposed protection methods, we have produced a fairly comprehensive inventory of these and have included  the fungicides reported in the various tobacco producing countries. For some diseases, we have even suggested alternative phytosanitary methods. It is obvious that the adaptation of these recommendations varies depending on the country and the pesticide legislation prevailing in the given country.