The causative agent of the disease is the micromycete Botrytis cinerea, which also has a sexual stage, Botryotinia fuckeliana. Infection often begins during the flowering period through the pistil, but symptoms appear later during the berry ripening phase. The pathogen attacks buds, flowers, pedicels, and leaves, causing the appearance of brown, watery spots that, under high humidity conditions, are covered with a gray, fuzzy coating of conidial sporulation.
Infected berries quickly lose their marketability, shrivel, and mummify, remaining on the pedicels. On flower stalks and pedicels, the infection causes necrosis and subsequent drying of the ovaries. Specific resistance genes to this disease have not been identified in strawberry. Resistance is considered a polygenic trait, and breeding is based on the selection of forms with morphological features such as firm flesh and tall flower stalks, which minimize contact between the fruit and the soil.
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Grey mold.