Premature death often occurs above the ear with the plant tissue below the ear remaining green. Examination of the stalk in these dead areas will show the same shiny black areas that is often found at the stalk base. This year many plants are showing this same dieback. This symptom is associated with late season stress. All three of these fungi cause general stalk rot and ear symptoms.
General stalk rot symptoms include wilting and death of the plants.
Affected leaves turn a gray-green colour which resembles frost damage. All three cause a dark external lesion or spots at the lower nodes. These spots are hard to remove. This is in contrast to Gibberella which also produces small, round, black spots at the lower node except these spots can be easily scraped from the stalk surface. The pith is shredded and has a pink to red colour.