Southern Blight

[ReslerMomma]

Good afternoon! If anyone has experience with southern blight, I need to pick your brain.

We have had several corbaci pepper plants die of what my research has lead me to believe is southern blight (Sclerotium rolfsii ). I would love to know the following:

Is the fruit from plants killed by southern blight safe to eat? The peppers seem healthy from the outside.

Has anyone had any success with solarization (or, my husbands idea- a propane torch weeder) to kill the fungus in the soil?

Also any good winter cover crops that aren't susceptible to southern blight? I would hate to inadvertently feed this nasty fungus all winter.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Chuck]

An interesting question. Why do you think it is southern blight? The fruit looks perfect. The roots look good except for the cobweb looking stuff, but even with that the roots appear healthy. What did or do the plants themselves look like? Did they have any symptoms showing on the leaves? Did the leaves curl , did they get spots on them, did the leaf tips and margins turn brown? It would be a big help if you updated your profile so as to show where you are located.

 

[ReslerMomma]

They very quickly wilted and then fell over. The white cob-webby like substance is where my google search started and lead me to my guess of southern blight.

 

[ReslerMomma]

This is not my own picture but this is what my peppers did.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sou..._AUICigB&biw=320&bih=454#imgrc=UcHM9CW3K56SHM:

 

[ReslerMomma]

Also, located in West Virginia.