The effect of moisture content and temperature on the persistence, in soil, of cells of the ring rot bacterium,Corynebacterium sepedonicum (Spieck. and Kotth.) Skapt. and Burkh., was followed with root-inoculated, rooted potato stem cuttings. Ring rot bacteria were still viable after 284 days in a sterilized Lethbridge silt loam moistened to field capacity and incubated at 15°C. However, the cells did not survive beyond 6 days in two non-sterile silt loams at field capacity and 20°C. In non-sterile Lethbridge silt loam, persistence of the pathogen increased as soil moisture content and temperature decreased. Cells persisted for 10 and 15 days, respectively, in soil at 50% field capacity held at 15 and 10°C. Ring rot bacteria were not recovered after 88 days from a non-sterile Lethbridge silt loam moistened to the wilting point and held at a temperature fluctuating between 10 and 20°C, or from soil at field capacity and at a temperature fluctuating between −5 and +5°C. They survived for 362 days in soil at the wilting point at mean temperatures of 0 or −10°C, but were not viable after 278 days in soil at field capacity and a mean temperature of −10°C. In excised, infected potato stems held in a non-sterile Lethbridge silt loam, the pathogen persisted for 325 days in soil at the wilting point and a mean temperature of 0°C. These results suggest that soil infested with ring rot bacteria should be kept well moistened during warm periods to inactivate these bacteria and to ensure that they do not contaminate healthy tubers that may be stored or grown there later.