Soft rot is especially common during rooting of cuttings. The entire cutting may become affected within several days. In larger plants, symptoms usually occur in the stem terminals. Stems become greyish and are soft and easily collapsed with the fingers. Wilting is usually evident at this time.
Diseased tissues become brittle as they dry out.
Brown to black lesions will form on the outside of the stem as the bacterium rots through to the surface. These external cankers can be mistaken for those caused by Pseudomonas cichorii . However, P. cichorii cankers are firm and originate at flower buds or leaves. The wide spread use of culture-indexed cuttings has significantly reduced incidence of this disease. When rot occurs during propagation, discard all affected cuttings as well as plant material for several surrounding rows.