The disease is favored by cool, moist weather during and after flowering. Symptoms appear soon after bloom until harvest, and can also appear in storage. The disease can kill the plant, greatly decrease yield, and can cause severe storage losses. Symptoms usually appear about 7 days after bloom, with a white cottony growth on the flower surface. Later, irregularly shaped water-soaked spots appear on stems, then on branches and leaves.
Spots enlarge to become soft watery, slimy rots.
Cottony fungus grows over these parts, then small, hard, black structures develop. Leaves above the stem infections become yellow then brown and often drop. The plants may wilt and the canopy may appear more open due to the loss of leaves. One or more stem infections can kill a plant. When leaves are infected, they dry out and bleach to a pale brown or white, much paler than a normal dead leaf color.