Otherwise, the disease will remain in the stem and continue on down to the crown, possibly killing the plant. Infected prunings should be removed well away from the field and burned or shredded. Cultivars which are known to be very susceptible to stem blight should be avoided in areas where stem blight has been a problem. Bluechip and Bounty are the most susceptible cultivars. The most resistant cultivars are Murphy, O'Neal and Cape Fear, which have only rarely been observed to die due to this disease, although they will become infected on occasion.
Site selection appears to play a part in the severity of stem blight.
The worst cases of stem blight in commercial fields occur on soils which are extremely sandy, resulting in poor growth, or on the black, heavy muck soils that promote excessive growth. Avoid wounding bushes unnecessarily. Another wounding phenomenon which occurs in new fields is caused by termites. In recently cleared fields where old stumps, trunks and branches have been left buried in the field, termites have been observed to wound and even kill new bushes. This can be avoided by thorough field preparation prior to planting.