Cause The OSU Plant Clinic has found Fusarium sp. on dusty miller Jacobaea maritima, formerly Senecio cineraria). It survives in the soil as thick-walled, dormant chlamydospores, which germinate in response to exudates from nearby plant roots. Hyphae then penetrate the roots, colonize the cortex and move into the xylem tissue. Small spores (microconidia) are produced and carried up into the plant.
Symptoms Plants wilt and die prematurely.
Cultural control
- Rotate to different beds from year to year.
- Remove and destroy infected plants.