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Home → Publications → Seed and Seedling Diseases in the Western US → Alternatives to Preplant Soil Fumigation for Western Forest Nurseries

Alternatives to Preplant Soil Fumigation for Western Forest Nurseries

Field trials at six bare-root forest tree nurseries in the Western United States compared cultural treatments including timing and depth of sowing; bare fallow (with and without periodic tilling); organic amendments including sawdust, composts, and cover crops; mulches including pine needles, sawdust, and rice straw; and fumigation with methyl bromide/chloropicrin or dazomet. Measured effects included population levels of potential soil-borne pathogens (species of Fusarium and Pythium), disease incidence, seedbed density, and sizes of conifer seedlings. Several nonfumigation treatments resulted in production of seedlings with densities and sizes similar to or better than those produced in beds treated with chemical fumigation. Results varied within the nurseries depending on conifer species, field history, and disease presence.


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Author(s): USDA Forest Service