• Older leaves show small, water-soaked or yellowish areas that enlarge rapidly and turn tan to reddish brown
• Spots - often circular to angular
• Later, spots may merge, blighting large sections of the leaf
• Petioles and stems - Tan to black, elongated and form slightly sunken streaks called cankers
• Attacks Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Cucumber
• Squash and pumpkin are almost immune
• Immature fruit - turn black, shrivel, and die
• Round, water-soaked spots develop on the older fruit
• Spots turn dark green to brown with age and may become sunken
• Under wet conditions, pinkish-colored spore masses can be seen oozing out of the sunken spots

• Mycelium - septate, hyaline when young and dark when old
• Setae - brown, thick walled, 2-3 septate
• Conidia - hyaline, oblong and single celled

• Soil and seed borne
• Fungus overwinters in old cucurbit vines or in weeds for 5 yrs
• Anthracnose can appear anytime during the season, but most damage occurs late in the season after the fruit is set
• Spread - running water, workers and the insect Pimelia sp.

Epidemiology:

• Warm, wet conditions - favour rapid development and spread of the disease
• Temp - 25 ° C, 100%RH

• Field sanitation - destroy the plant debris
• Hot water treatment of seeds @ 57.2 ° C for 20 min
• Seed treatment - thiram or carbendazim or mancozeb @ 2g/kg
• Spraying at weekly intervals of Carbendazim 0.1 %, Mancozeb 0.2%, Difolaton 0.2%
• Fruit dip - 5 min in wash water containing 120 ppm of chlorine helps to prevent infection of healthy fruits
• Resistant varieties in watermelon - Black Stone, Congo, Diamond, Charleston