Grey Snow Mould
| Typhula blight | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Typhulaceae |
| Genus: |
Typhula
Species include: |
Species include:
Typhula blight (commonly called gray snow mold or speckled snow mold) is most commonly known as a turf disease, but can also be a problem with wheat. Typhula blight is caused by a Typhula fungus by either Typhula incarnata or T. ishikariensis. Typhula incarnata is the causal agent for gray snow mold and T. ishikariensis causes speckled snow mold. Snow molds are caused by cold tolerant fungi that require snow cover or prolonged periods of cold, wet conditions. Typhula blight is most notably found in the turf industry, affecting a wide range of turfgrasses. Upon the snow melt, gray circular patches of mycelium are found. These mycelia produce a survival structure called a sclerotia that survives the warm summer months. Typhula blight is commonly controlled with fungicide applications in the late fall and by other cultural practices. If unchecked, snow molds can cause severe turf loss.
Typhula blight is a major problem with cool season turfgrasses during winter months. These grasses include bentgrass, annual bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue, and kentucky bluegrass. Typhula blight is also commonly referred to as gray snow mold due to the gray colored patches found after snow has melted. Gray snow mold affects all of its hosts in the same way. After the snow has melted, gray to grayish white patches of mycelium, six to twelve inches in diameter, can be found. Within the patches, diseased grass blades often reveal either rusty or reddish brown colored sclerotia up to five millimeters in diameter. Gray snow mold can cause thinning and possibly death of the infected host.
Unlike most plant pathogens, Typhula blight's dormant stage occurs in the warm conditions of the summer months as sclerotia, a hard survival structure. Upon favorable conditions of cold, wet weather, the sclerotia germinates grayish white spore-bearing bodies called basidiocarps to produce hyphae with clamp connections. The disease then infects the plant tissue and resumes the disease cycle. It is there where the pathogen produces sclerotia to survive the next summer months.
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Wikipedia