Bacterial Soft Rot
Tissue turns into a wet, slimy, cream-coloured mush that collapses under a finger, and it smells foul. There is no mould, no fuzz and no web on it, which is what separates it from a fungal rot.
Disease checklist
Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.
What gets rid of it
Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.
1Fix the drainage
Do not let water pool around roots, bulbs or fruit. Raised beds help on heavy Missouri clay.
raised garden bed kitTry this first2Harvest dry and handle gently
Lift roots and bulbs when the soil is dry and avoid bruising, because every bruise is a doorway.
3Cure and store cool
Cure onions, garlic and potatoes properly, then store them cool and dry with air moving around them.
onion storage rack4Take rotting plants out
Remove and bin anything that has gone soft so it does not seed the rest of the bed or the storage crate.
5Ease off water on mature roots
Do not run long irrigations on mature carrots and beets during hot weather.
6Do not reach for a spray
There is no home fungicide that cures soft rot. It is handled by drainage, handling and storage.
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Which plants get bacterial soft rot
Every plant we cover that gets bacterial soft rot, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same disease can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.
biennial1
annuals7
bulb1
Plant families hit hardest
Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Solanaceae, with 3 of the 10 affected plants.
- Solanaceae3 plants
- Brassicaceae2 plants
When to treat
Act during warm wet spells and at harvest, because the bacteria only get in through wounds and standing water.
Timing only — the label is the law
This page tells you when to watch for bacterial soft rot and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.
- Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
- Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
- Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
- Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.
Other problems on the same plants
If a plant gets bacterial soft rot, these are the problems it most often gets as well, so they are worth checking for while you are out there. They tend to appear together; one does not cause another.