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Symptoms:
Stem symptoms of early blight are brown, elongated, sunken lesions. These lesions can occur anywhere on the stem or petioles, but are particularly severe if located at the base of the plant as they may girdle the stem and kill the whole plant.

Control:
Minimize wetting of the leaves by using drip or furrow irrigation. Infection occurs rapidly during periods of warm, wet weather. Fungicide sprays control the disease effectively.