Verticillium Wilt - Verticillium Wilt Disease

Verticillium wilt, caused by the fungi Verticillium albo-atrum and V. dahliae, is a serious vascular disease of hundreds of woody and herbaceous plant hosts. Food crop hosts include everything from raspberries and strawberries, to tomatoes and potatoes.

Some of the many common woody ornamental host plants include ash, barberry, catalpa, elm, magnolia, maple, Russian olive, redbud, smoketree, tuliptree, and viburnum. One group of plants not susceptible to Verticillium wilt are all the gymnosperms, including conifers such as pine and spruce. While many landscape plants are affected, Verticillium wilt is not a major problem in natural forested areas.

Diagnostic Symptoms

Wilting of leaves and dieback of branches, often one at a time or on one side of the tree, are the most severe symptoms. This can occur over a number of years, with remission of symptoms in some years, or can rapidly progress to plant death in a year or two. Other symptoms of Verticillium wilt may include: marginal browning and scorch of leaves, abnormally large seed crops, small leaves, stunting, poor annual growth, and sparse foliage.

Sometimes large areas of cambial tissue die from infections by the fungus and opportunistic fungi such as Nectria develop in elongated cankers. Late season infections may not be noticeable until plants come out of dormancy with branch dieback evident.

All of the above symptoms can also be caused by other stress factors. A good field symptom that can set Verticillium wilt apart diagnostically is the discoloration of xylem and cambial tissue, visible as streaks if you cut into the wood. This discoloration is variable for different plants: generally greenish to blackish on maple, yellowish green on smoketree, and brown on ash.

This streaking is not totally diagnostic on two counts: 1) other fungi and other factors can cause discoloration; and 2) on some hosts and on youngest twigs, infection is not always accompanied by discoloration. However, vascular discoloration is a good field symptom that can then be followed up for confirmation by a diagnostic lab.

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