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Home → Publications → Seed and Seedling Diseases in the Western US → Diseases and Insects in Forest Nurseries

Diseases and Insects in Forest Nurseries

Many forest nurseries producing bareroot seedlings in the United States rely on soil fumigation with methyl bromide and other chemicals to control soil-borne diseases. Methyl bromide production and importation will be phased out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by the year 2000. Growers need alternative production technologies to grow high quality seedlings without fumigation because substitute fumigants are undesirable due to environmental and human health hazards. The Forest Pest Management branch of the USDA Forest Service recently instituted field trials at several U.S. nurseries to evaluate alternative cropping regimes and determine their effects on soil-borne diseases. Various organic amendments, fallow periods, cultivation regimes, and cover crops will be compared to methyl bromide fumigation. Additional studies will evaluate beneficial microorganisms and suppressive soils, develop accurate sampling techniques for differentiating pathogenic F. oxysporum populations, karyotype Fusarium isolates, and develop ELISA assays for detection and quantification of plant pathogenic Cylindrocladium and Macrophomina spp.


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Author(s): USDA Forest Service