symptoms
Symptoms
- circleRaised, rough, corky patches on tubers, fruit, or root surfaces
- circleDark, scabby lesions that may crack open
- circleMostly cosmetic damage, though severe cases can affect storage quality
help
Causes
Caused by various pathogens depending on host — for example, Streptomyces scabies (a soil-borne actinomycete) causes common potato scab, favored by dry conditions and alkaline soil during tuber formation.
healing
Treatment
There is no in-season cure; keep soil consistently moist during the susceptible tuber-forming stage to reduce severity, and peel affected produce, which remains edible under the skin.
shield
Prevention
Avoid liming soil before planting susceptible crops, rotate crops on a multi-year cycle, and choose scab-resistant varieties where available.