The disease is favored by cool, moist weather. It is spread by spores produced in the pustules. The rust organism overwinters in flax straw, from which spores are produced that cause primary infection. Susceptible varieties such as De Oro should not be grown in Texas. The causal agent is transmitted from diseased to healthy plants by the six-spotted leafhopper.
Infected plants are bright yellow with considerable distortion of foliage and floral parts.
Flower parts turn green, forming a rosette-like growth instead of a boll. Seeds are shriveled or do not form. There is no effective control for this disease. Dense plantings tend to reduce the incidence of disease, since the insect vector prefers plants that are not crowded. Infected plants show a characteristic erectness of leaves about the stem.