Bulletin 229, Diseases of Citrus in Florida


injured by foot rot frequently exhibit a pronounced wilting and
curling.
 The rapidity with which trees attacked by foot rot die is
quite variable. In severe cases, the trees may die within a year
or two from the time the disease becomes apparent. Usually,


Fig. 18.-Advanced case of foot rot, in which the tree broke off long be-
 fore it died. The taproot and most of the lateral roots have been dead
 a long time.
however, it may be several years before the attacked trees finally
succumb. The kind of rootstock and the location of the attacked
tree have a considerable bearing on the severity of the disease.
In some instances, a number of different wood-rotting fungi
invade the exposed wood of foot rot lesions, in which case the
attacked trees may break off at or below the ground line as a
result of decay (Fig. 18) quite a while before becoming com-
pletely girdled.
 CAUSE OF FOOT ROT
 Foot rot has been studied extensively by many investigators
and a number of diverse causes have been assigned in the past.