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Extension > Garden > Diagnose a problem > What's wrong with my plant? > Vegetable > Eggplant > Leaves wilt

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Eggplant > Leaves > Leaves wilt

1 of 6
  • Frost Damage/Chilling Injury 1
  • Frost Damage/Chilling Injury 2
  • Frost Damage/Chilling Injury 3

Frost Damage/Chilling Injury

  • Leaves look water-soaked and soft, then turn black
  • Surface of fruit appears bronzed
  • Seeds and inside of fruit are brown
  • Fruit becomes soft water-soaked and rots
  • Leaves show injury immediately, fruit may not show symptoms for 5 to 7 days
  • Eggplant is more sensitive to cold than tomatoes and peppers
2 of 6
  • White Mold 1
  • White Mold 2
  • White Mold 3

White Mold
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

  • Dark, firm water soaked lesion on stem
  • Girdled stems die and turn bone white
  • Inside dead stems are black mouse poop like sclerotia
  • Fruit are soft and rotted
  • Cottony white mycelia inside and outside infected stems when humidity is high
  • Favored by cool humid conditions
  • More information on White Mold
3 of 6
  • Verticillium Wilt 1
  • Verticillium Wilt 2

Verticillium Wilt
Verticillium spp.

  • Leaf edges and tips turn yellow
  • Eventually entire leaves yellow and wilt
  • Symptoms often affect one side only
  • Lower leaves wilt first, eventually whole plant wilts
  • In a lengthwise cut of the stem near the soil line, veins are tan, center is green
  • More information on growing healthy vegetables
4 of 6
  • Phytophthora Blight 1
  • Phytophthora Blight 2
  • Phytophthora Blight 3

Phytophthora Blight
Phytophthora capsici and Phytophthora parasitica

  • Entire plant wilts and turns brown
  • Soft, dark, water soaked spots form on fruit
  • Water soaked to tan bleached spots may form on leaves
  • Fruit wither but remain attached and become coated in white fungal growth
  • Dark sunken spots form on stems, all leaves beyond this spot wilt
  • Disease spreads very rapidly in cool wet weather
  • More information on growing healthy vegetables
5 of 6
  • Phomopsis Blight 1
  • Phomopsis Blight 2

Phomopsis Blight
Phomopsis vexans

  • Stems develop dark sunken lesions just above the soil line
  • Seedlings may collapse and die
  • Leaves develop circular, gray to brown lesions with a light center
  • Severely infected leaves become torn, yellow, wilt and drop
  • Fruit develops pale, sunken, oval spots
  • Concentric rings of tiny black dots can be seen in fruit infection
  • More information on Phomopsis Blight
6 of 6
  • Potato Aphid and Green Peach Aphid 1
  • Potato Aphid and Green Peach Aphid 2

Potato Aphid and Green Peach Aphid
Macrosiphum euphorbiae and Myzus persicae

  • Small insects, pear-shaped, usually greenish; clustered on underside of leaves, about 1/10th inch long
  • Feeding by small or moderate numbers of aphids usually does not cause visible symptoms; feeding by larger numbers of aphids can cause curling, stunting, and wilting of leaves
  • Active during spring and summer
  • More information on Potato Aphid and Green Peach Aphid

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