My Tithonia plant has been suffering for several weeks now. The top is all curled and yellow and deformed. Tonight I went to cut the top part off, as the lower lateral shoots look normal. I found the stem has been split and there appear to be black oval eggs inside - probably the reason for the stunted growth. Can anyone ID this for me?
this one has me stumped. They could be eggs but to me looks more fungal. Eggs in the stem would not necesarily cause problems with the top growth which makes me think disease.
They almost look like Sclerotium of some kind.
Thanks, drobarr, but I'm not sure it's Fungal either. I did cut off that part of the stem, and left it on a table outside. About a week later, the black "eggs" were gone. It might be some disease though, as the plant still has not bloomed, and still has abnormal growth. I'm thinking about just pulling the whole thing out! I grew tithonia there last year, and had no problem.
