Affected plants are stunted and yellow compared to healthy plants. This early phase of take- all usually goes unnoticed. After heading time, take-all symptoms are much easier to detect. The white heads contain little or no grain. Plants may die individually or in large patches.
Patches usually occur in wetter areas of the field.
Occasionally whole fields are killed and this is how take-all gets its name. Since take-all is a root rot, affected plants pull out of the ground very easily. Take-all can be confused with Cephalosporium stripe, drowning, dryland foot rot, strawbreaker foot rot, winter injury, and crown rot symptoms. However, only take-all has the shiny, dark black discoloration on the lower stems. The take-all fungus survives between wheat crops in undecayed crop residue, on grassy weeds, and on volunteer wheat.