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Potatoes, white, russet and red, are an important crop in the United States and Canada. Potatoes are the principle hosts of this fungus-like organism and it causes an unsightly warty appearance of tubers. This organism is an obligate parasite, meaning that it can only grown on living plants. Infected tubers are unusable in any sense. The galls that form as a result of infection range in size from 1 to 8 cm. World wide control of this disease is being attempted through exclusion - quarantines. Resistant plants are available, but resistant plants only suppress the symptoms and may spread the disease. Resting spores of this organism can remain viable in soil for at least 40 years. The organism has been experimentally spread to other members in the potato family, including tomatoes, although galls do not form on these hosts.

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