Anthracnose fruit rot

What you see

Sunken, circular, water-soaked spots on ripe fruit that darken and develop concentric rings of pinkish or black spore masses in the centre. It appears on fruit that looked perfect three days earlier - very often after picking.

Conditions

Warm and wet, above 20C with rain or heavy dew on ripening fruit. Overripe fruit left on the plant is the incubator that infects the rest of the crop.

Treatment

Pick every fruit at first blush rather than leaving it to fully ripen on the plant. Remove and bin all rotting fruit. Copper protects fruit still developing.

Prevention

Mulch to stop soil splash - the spores overwinter in soil and debris. Rotate three years. Do not leave the last of the crop to rot on the plants in autumn.

Months: July, August, September, October

Plants

Tomato, Sweet pepper, Chilli, Strawberry, Fig, Green bean

Remedies

Bordeaux mixture (copper), Mulch, Bacillus subtilis biofungicide

The thing people get wrong

This is the classic disease of the gardener who wants a fully vine-ripened tomato. The spores land on the fruit early and sit dormant until sugar levels rise - so the infection happened weeks before you saw anything. Picking at first colour and ripening indoors costs you almost nothing in flavour and takes the disease out of the equation entirely.