It can sometimes seem like lettuce and fungal issues go hand - in - hand .

Both these leafy jet and many foul fungal pathogens eff nothing more than moisture and coolheaded temperatures .

If you ’re find out white daub on your moolah , it ’s ordinarily a dependable wager that a pathogen has infect your plants .

A horizontal shot of a head of lettuce on a wooden table. White spots are visible on the leaves of the lettuce.

But it ’s not just kingdom Fungi that can cause white-hot spots on scratch leave .

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There ’s also a pest that strongly resemble a fungal disease and has fooled more than one experient nurseryman into thinking that their crop had some sort of disease , when really it was an infestation .

A vertical photo of lettuce plants growing in a row in a garden. Green and white text span the center and bottom of the frame.

If you need a refresher abouthow to grow lettuce , assure out our templet .

In this article , we ’ll help you narrow down the reason of lily-white spots on your lettuce and figure out how to care for the problem so you could get back to delight your favorite salad .

Here ’s the batting order :

A horizontal closeup of many butterhead plants with downy mildew on the leaves.

Common Causes of White Spots on Lettuce

1 . Downy Mildew

2 . Powdery Mildew

3 . Mealybugs

A square product shot of an Optima lettuce plant in a field.

If you ’re take care spots , you need to act as rather rather than subsequently , so let ’s cut into decently in and look at the three common issues that do whitened spotting on lettuce crops .

Downy mould has pretty trenchant symptoms .

This disease , because of the pee mildew ( oomycete)Bremia lactucae , appears as scandalmongering or light green angulate spots on the top aerofoil of the leaves .

A horizontal photo of lettuce growing in a raised bed. The leaves are covered with powdery mildew.

On the undersides , you ’ll discover blotches and touch of ashen frippery .

As the disease progresses , the upper lesions turn brown and dry , and if left unchecked , the leafage might give-up the ghost entirely .

It typically starts on the older leave and speedily spreads to new growth . If downy mould take grasp at the seedling stagecoach , the plant will in all probability die .

A horizontal selective focus of several mealy bugs on the bottom of a leaf.

The pathogen attacks all species in theLactucagenus – and a few other genera , too – and thrives in moist , coolheaded term . It spread via water , so rain , in high spirits humidity , and irrigation can send it far and astray through your lettuce patch .

Beyond reducing moisture by water at the soil storey and space plants suitably , you could use a preventative fungicide if the conditions in your garden are conducive to the disease – or you have experienced it before .

Otherwise , it ’s good to embed repellent cultivars and there are mass to pick out from . The following are just a sampling of cultivars resistant to downy mold .

A horizontal photo of a gardener squatting in a garden bed holding freshly harvested lettuce leaves in both hands.

Note that resistant does n’t mean immune so if you have a bad outbreak in your garden , even these may become septic .

By the way , I have it off ‘ Optima . ’ It ’s one of the few cultivar that I have never , not once , had a problem with . It ’s a butterhead type that matures in just 52 daytime .

‘ optimum ’

Pick up seeds in a variety of dissimilar packet sizesat High Mowing Organic Seeds .

you’re able to learn more about downy mold and other common bread disease in our templet .

It starts out looking like someone splosh plot of ground and spots of flour on the leaves , and before you recognize it , the powdery growth is coating the intact head .

Even worse , as the disease work up , the leave-taking might become deform , ironical up , and turn chocolate-brown .

If you ’re seeing these symptom , it ’s probable that your crop is sustain from powdery mold , a disease cause by the fungusGolovinomyces cichoracearum .

Powdery mildew is distressingly plebeian , and there are a variety of ways to care for it .

From applications of milk to advanced antifungal agent , there are a telephone number of unlike treatment options which you canread about in our guide .

await , what ? We ’re talking about blanched spots on lettuce here , not bug .

mealy bug are sap - sucking insect in the family Pseudococcidae , and they could easily gull you into thinking your crops were infect with a disease .

mealy bug are little , moderately flat , and they move very slowly . So when you go to learn out your plant , it see like white waxy lumps rise on the leafage – but those are n’t lumps , they ’re insects .

They can also be slightly yellow or a gray color , and they generally wish to cluster in hidden area under the leaves , along the stalk , or the middle of a rosette .

We usually know they ’re around because we see the insects themselves , but they can also cause stunted growth and yellowing as they suck the life out of your leafy greens .

Read our guide to dealing with mealybugsto learn how to handle these plague .

Out, Damned Spot

Since it ’s the leaves of the plant that we eat and not the fruit it create , it ’s all the more withering when the foliage develops snowy spots .

check that to monitor your garden on a regular basis to watch for the first sign of any of these issues . If you see them , act fast and you could store your harvest .

And for more entropy about growing dinero in your garden , we have a few other guide that you might want to check out next :

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Kristine Lofgren