Fig Blight & Pink Blight: Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention

Quick Answer

Fig blight (Botryosphaeria) causes sudden branch dieback with dead leaves left hanging on the branch (flagging) and dark sunken cankers, while pink blight (Erythricium salmonicolor) forms a salmon-pink powdery crust on shaded, poorly ventilated bark. Both fungi exploit stressed, stagnant trees and enter through wounds. Treat by pruning well below the infection with sterilised tools, scraping and painting pink-blight bark with copper paste, thinning the canopy for airflow, and binning all infected wood.

Blight covers two related fungal problems that both come down to the same conditions: humidity, poor air circulation, wounds, and stress. Tell them apart by where they show up, treat them with aggressive pruning and better airflow, and most trees pull through.

What to Look For

For fig blight, the signs are a branch that wilts suddenly and dies back from the tip, dead leaves that stay hanging on the branch (flagging) rather than dropping, and dark, sunken cankers at the base of dead or dying branches. For pink blight, look for a pink, salmon, or white powdery crust growing on the bark, typically on shaded, congested branches where the air is still and damp.

What Causes It

Fig blight is caused by Botryosphaeria fungi, which infect through wounds and dieback points and spread in wet conditions. Pink blight comes from Erythricium salmonicolor and thrives specifically in stagnant, humid air on shaded bark. Both are opportunists: they take hold on trees that are stressed, crowded, or poorly ventilated, which is why cultural conditions matter as much as any spray.

Is It Serious?

It can be. Blight kills branches, and left to spread into the trunk it can take a whole tree. The saving grace is that it is usually containable: cut aggressively below the infection, improve the tree's airflow and vigour, and you generally stop it at the cost of some wood. Ignore it, and a stressed tree in a wet season can decline fast.

My Treatment Plan

Prune well past the infection. Cut blighted wood at least 15 to 20 cm below the visible damage, into clean healthy tissue.
Sterilise tools between cuts (a wipe of alcohol or diluted bleach) so you do not carry the fungus to healthy wood.
For pink blight, scrape off the crust and paint the exposed bark with a copper-based fungicide paste.
Thin the canopy to open up air circulation; pink blight in particular cannot survive in moving air.
Apply preventive copper or mancozeb sprays during wet seasons on trees with a history of blight.
Burn or bin all pruned material. Do not compost it.

⚠️ Sterilise between cuts

When pruning out blight, wipe your blades with alcohol or diluted bleach between every cut. Pruning tools are one of the fastest ways to spread the fungus from an infected branch straight into healthy wood.

Preventing It Next Season

Both blights are diseases of stagnation and stress, so prevention is cultural. Keep the canopy open and airy through structural pruning in dormancy, avoid unnecessary bark wounds, sterilise tools as a matter of habit, and remove dead and dying wood promptly rather than leaving it as an infection reservoir. Keep trees vigorous and unstressed, and reach for preventive copper during prolonged wet spells if blight has been a recurring problem.

Not sure it’s blight? Sudden dieback also comes from ambrosia beetles and cold damage. Check your tree’s symptoms against all 18 conditions with the free interactive tool.

Run the Symptom Checker

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are dead leaves hanging on my fig branch?

Dead leaves that stay clinging to a branch after it dies back, called flagging, are a classic sign of fig blight (Botryosphaeria). The fungus kills the branch so fast that the leaves die in place before they can drop. Combined with sudden branch dieback and sometimes dark sunken cankers, it points to blight rather than a pest.

What is the pink crust on my fig tree bark?

A pink, salmon, or white powdery crust growing on bark, usually on shaded, poorly ventilated branches, is pink blight (Erythricium salmonicolor). It thrives in stagnant, humid air. Scrape off the crust, paint the exposed bark with a copper-based fungicide paste, and thin the canopy so air moves freely and the fungus loses its damp home.

How do I treat fig blight?

Prune blighted wood at least 15 to 20 cm below the visible infection, sterilising your tools between every cut so you do not spread it. Thin the canopy for air circulation, apply preventive copper or mancozeb sprays during wet seasons, and dispose of all pruned material by burning or binning, never composting. Blight enters through wounds, so clean cuts and good hygiene matter.

Will fig blight kill my tree?

It can kill branches quickly and, if it reaches the main trunk unchecked, the whole tree. Caught early and pruned out aggressively, most trees survive with the loss of some limbs. Stressed and poorly ventilated trees are most at risk, so prompt pruning plus improving airflow and vigour is the key to saving the tree.

How do I stop blight from coming back?

Keep the canopy open and airy by thinning congested growth, avoid wounding the bark unnecessarily, sterilise pruning tools, and remove all dead and infected wood promptly. Preventive copper sprays during prolonged wet weather help, and keeping the tree vigorous and unstressed makes it far more resistant, since both blights exploit weak, stagnant trees.