Verticillium Wilt
One branch or one side of the plant wilts and browns while the rest looks fine, and the wilt returns in the same lopsided pattern year after year. Peel the bark or cut a wilted stem across and you will find dark streaks in the wood following the grain, which is the sign that separates it from drought, root rot or a girdling injury.
Disease checklist
Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.
What gets rid of it
Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.
1Water steadily and mulch
Deep, regular watering in dry spells and a 2 inch mulch ring keep a mildly infected tree alive for years, though they do not remove the fungus.
wood chip mulch bagsTry this first2Prune out dead wood only
Cut back branches that have actually died, disinfecting the saw between cuts, and leave living limbs alone.
pruning saw folding3Replant with resistant species
On infected ground choose conifers, ginkgo, oak, hackberry, sweetgum, birch or beech instead of maple, redbud, catalpa or smokebush.
4Buy V-resistant vegetable varieties
Look for the V code in tomato and eggplant catalogue listings, which marks verticillium resistance.
VFN resistant tomato seeds5Solarise a small infested bed
Cover moist bare soil with clear plastic through the hottest six to eight weeks of summer to knock the fungus back in a vegetable bed.
clear plastic sheeting 4 mil soil solarization6Skip the fertiliser cure
Do not push a wilting tree with high nitrogen; it forces growth the damaged vascular system cannot supply.
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Which plants get verticillium wilt
Every plant we cover that gets verticillium wilt, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same disease can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.
trees5
shrubs4
perennial1
annuals5
Plant families hit hardest
Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Solanaceae, with 4 of the 16 affected plants.
- Solanaceae4 plants
- Anacardiaceae2 plants
- Asteraceae2 plants
- Oleaceae2 plants
When to treat
There is no cure and no fungicide that works: the fungus lives in the soil for years, so the honest plan is to support the plant with water and light care, remove what dies, and replant that ground only with resistant species.
Timing only — the label is the law
This page tells you when to watch for verticillium wilt and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.
- Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
- Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
- Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
- Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.
Other problems on the same plants
If a plant gets verticillium wilt, these are the problems it most often gets as well, so they are worth checking for while you are out there. They tend to appear together; one does not cause another.