[3] R. reniformis has been reported from thousands of localities in the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

[2][4] It has a wide host range that includes fruit trees, lentil, cotton, pigeon pea, tea, tobacco, soybean, pineapple, banana, okra, coconut, cabbage, sweet potato, alfalfa, corn, asparagus, palm, cucumber, tomato, squash, cassava, radish, eggplant, guava, melon, chickpea, and ginger.

[4] The immature female is the infective agent, attacking the root and growing to maturity at its feeding site.

[7] Under drought conditions the nematode can persist up to two years outside a host by entering an anhydrobiotic state.

Shoot growth suppression and reduction of fruit quality has been observed in crops such as pineapple.

[10] In sweet potato, early infection of reniform nematodes results in tuber cracking leading to poor storage quality.

Wilt disease can follow when opportunistic fungi such as Fusarium and Verticillium infect the plants, a process observed in cotton.

Damage from R. reniformis is directly related to the number of nematodes present when the crop is planted.

[4][11] Intercropping and crop rotation, especially with resistant or non-host plants, is used as cultural control to improve soil, increase antagonistic microorganisms, and reduce nematode populations.

[4][10] Fallowing the land is another cultural practice that can be utilized, but it is much less effective than rotating resistant species, as nematodes can persist in the soil for a long time and feed off of weeds.

[15] The fungus Purpureocillium lilacinum and bacteria Bacillus firmus have shown potential to become commercial agents of biological pest control against the nematode in cotton.