Quick facts
- White mold is a disease that causes stem rot, wilt and death of many common flowers.
- Hard, resting structures, called sclerotia, allow the fungus to survive for many years. This lets the fungus reinfect gardens each year.
- Follow these critical steps to manage white mold:
- Inspect your garden often for signs of white mold.
- Remove and destroy infected plants right away.
How to identify white mold
Symptoms
- All leaves on one stem wilt and die.
- Infected parts of the stem are tan to off-white, dry and brittle.
- Stem tissue just above and below the infection often remain green.
- Fluffy, white, fungal growth may be seen on infected stems or leaves when humidity is high.
- Hard structures (called sclerotia) form on the surface of and within infected stems. These structures are:
- Black in color.
- Oblong to irregular in shape.
- About the size of a broken pencil tip.
Plants affected by white mold
The white mold fungus infects over 400 plant species.
Commonly affected flowering annual plants
- Petunia
- Zinnia
- Marigold
- Nicotiana
- Sunflower
- Salvia
Commonly affected garden vegetables
- Tomato
- Squash
- Bean
- Carrot
Commonly affected perennials
- Chrysanthemum
- Columbine
- Delphinium
- Peony
- Many common garden weeds
How does white mold survive and spread?
- White mold is caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.
- The white mold fungus forms hard, black, resting structures called sclerotia. These structures are about the size of a broken pencil tip. Sclerotia allow the fungus to survive in the soil and plant debris for 5 or more years.
- In spring and summer when temperatures are cool (51 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit) and the soil is moist, sclerotia produce a few tiny mushrooms. These mushrooms release spores that can travel up to a mile or more by wind.
- Spores that land on wounded or aging plant tissue, like old petals or leaves, will germinate and start an infection.
- Infections move into the main stem and eventually girdle it. When this happens, the leaves above the stem infection suddenly wilt and die.
- New sclerotia will begin to form on and within killed plant tissue.
How to manage white mold
Once white mold has been introduced to a garden, the disease often reoccurs each year. Several cultural control practices can help reduce the number of plants affected.
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- Choose plants with an upright and open form because they will dry more quickly than plants that lie along the ground or grow in dense clumps.
- Space plants far enough apart so air moves through them and dries them quickly.
- Use drip irrigation or soaker hose instead of sprinklers.
- Remove all plants infected with white mold, as soon as the disease appears. Take care not to knock off any sclerotia in the process.
- Infected plants should be burned or buried in an area of the yard that will not be used for vegetable or flower gardening in the future.
- Infected plants can be composted only if the compost heats up to 148 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit for a minimum of 21 days. If your home compost pile does not meet these standards, consider bringing infected plants to a municipal compost facility that does.
The plants below were evaluated for resistance by the University of Minnesota in 2011 to 2016.
Moderately resistant
In these plants, individual stems or shoots become infected and die back but the plant remains alive through the growing season.
- New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkerii)
- Pentas (Pentas lanceolata)
- Sweet Flag (Acorus granimeus)
Resistant
When grown in the garden, some stem infection could be found but plants did not wilt or die.
- Purple Millet Grass (Pennisteum glaucum)
- Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta)
- Canna (Canna x generalis)
Highly resistant
There are no symptoms of disease in these plants.
- Fiber Optic Grass (Scirpus sp.)
- Ornamental Reed (Juncus effusus)
- Ornamental Sedge (Carex flagellifera)
Reviewed in 2026