Divisi
Fruitlet core rot
Fusarium ananatum · Fungal
Photo: fir0002/flagstaffotos.com.au · GFDL 1.2
Fruitlet core rot is a hidden fungal rot of pineapple. The fungus sneaks in through the open flower during bloom and quietly rots the core of individual fruitlets (the "eyes" that make up the fruit). From the outside the pineapple can look perfect — the rot only shows when you cut it open. Warm, wet, humid weather during flowering, plus mites and small insects crawling into the flowers, are what let it in.
Markus Leupold-Löwenthal · CC BY-SA 3.0
Why it matters
This rot can quietly spoil up to 3 in every 10 fruit — almost a third of your harvest — and it does it where you can't see: a pineapple that looks perfect on the outside can be brown and rotten in the eyes when you or your buyer cuts it, so it gets rejected or downgraded at the worst moment. It is hard to beat because the damage is already done weeks earlier, when the fungus slipped in through the open flower — by the time the fruit is big there is nothing you can do to save it. All you can protect is the next flowering, so knowing which blocks carry the disease is everything.
When to act
internal browning found when cutting sample fruit at or after flowering in a known problem block
This guidance is general, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. Thresholds and timing shift with your crop, your variety and the season.
In much of the region a spray is simply called mushonga — medicine. But a chemical group you cannot name is one you cannot rotate, and a product you did not write down has no pre-harvest interval you can observe. Mushonga, and other farming words →
The full fruitlet core rot field guide
- Identify it
- Scout for it
- Control it
14 field-guide sections in the app
The full guide to fruitlet core rot — every symptom to check, how and when to walk your field looking for it, and the controls that actually work, ranked. Built into your crop plan, so you are told to look before it costs you a harvest.
Crops it affects
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify fruitlet core rot?
What you see when you cut the fruit (the clearest sign): slice a ripe pineapple down the middle and look at the eyes near the core. Affected fruitlets show a firm brown-to-black rot at their centre, about the size of a small bean, while the flesh around them still looks yellow and healthy. Usually only some eyes in a fruit are rotten, not all of them.
When should I take action against fruitlet core rot?
internal browning found when cutting sample fruit at or after flowering in a known problem block
How do I control fruitlet core rot?
Prevent first — good practices are your strongest tool (they cut the rot by about half): where you can choose when to force flowering (trigger the crop to bloom), avoid triggering it so the flowers open in the cool, wet season — dry-weather flowering lets far less fungus in. Feed the crop a balanced diet and do not over-do the nitrogen (too much soft growth invites rot). At the end, harvest at the right maturity and cool the fruit quickly after picking, and clear away old rotten fruit so spores don't build up.
Which crops does fruitlet core rot affect?
Among the crops covered here: Pineapple.
Catch it before it costs you a harvest
Divisi builds scouting into your crop plan — it tells you when to walk your field, what to look for at that stage, and what to do when you find it. Free for farmers, works offline.
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