Symptoms of P. penetrans make it hard to distinguish from other plant pathogens; only an assay of soil can conclusively diagnose a nematode problem in the field.

P. penetrans uses its highly modified mouth organs to rupture the outer surface of subterranean plant root structures.

P. penetrans is considered to be a crop parasite and farmers will often treat their soil with various pesticides in an attempt to eliminate the damage caused by an infestation.

[4] Some general symptoms that are produced on infected plants include poor growth, fruit spot, and chlorotic foliage.

As the nematode continues to feed, the lesions can coalesce to become large necrotic areas of tissue that may eventually girdle the root.

Onions are an important vegetable for consumption in the United States and upon infection the nematodes can limit yield and quality of the bulbs.

There is a negative relationship between the increasing inoculum levels on onion root and top fresh weight at harvest.

P. penetrans has a critical survival mechanism that during cold seasons and in the absence of the host it goes into diapause, animal dormancy resulting in a delay in development.

During anhydrobiosis the nematode enters an almost completely desiccated state which stabilizes its membranes and other cellular structures, preventing otherwise lethal damage caused by environmental extremes.

[8] The number of eggs deposited, life cycle completion time, and juvenile mortality rates are all affected by temperature.

[3] There are also cultural practices that can be helpful in management of P. penetrans including clean planting stock, fallowing, and cover crops.

[1] Rotations to nonhost crops offers limited opportunities due to nematodes being able to live in the soil.

[1] Pre-plant fumigation is most effective to reduce field population levels to below economic damage thresholds.

[5] An area of ongoing research is using ornamental species to reduce inoculum levels of nematodes in the fields.

[11] All of these tactics require accurate diagnosis of species and identification of population levels assessed from soil and root samples taken from the field.

[1] Potato Early Dying causes premature vine death, severe yield losses, scabby appearance with sunken lesions, and dark, wart-like bumps that turn purple on tubers in storage.