Cankers may be up to 3 feet long and may extend below the soil line. When the trunk is cut in cross-section, the canker appears as darkened or discolored wood extending in a wedge shape to the center of the trunk. The most striking and obvious symptoms of Eutypa dieback are the leaf and shoot symptoms, which may not develop for 2 to 4 years after the vine was first infected. These symptoms are most obvious in spring, when healthy shoots are 12 to 24 inches long. Spring shoot growth on diseased canes is weak and stunted above the cankered area.
Leaves are at first smaller than normal, cupped, distorted, and yellow.
Leaf and shoot symptoms are more pronounced each year until the affected portion of the vine finally dies. Disease cycle of Eutypa Dieback. We wish to thank the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station for use of this figure. Figure taken form the Grape IPM Disease Identification Sheet No. 1. The fungus survives in infected trunks for long periods, whether as part of the in-place vine or as old, dead grape wood in the vineyard.