Fusarium Populations Within Peat-Based Growing Media USDA Forest Service Nursery, Coeur D'Alene, Idaho
Peat-based container growing media used in 2004 for tree improvement and production stock at the USDA Forest Service Coeur d' Alene Nursery contained high populations of Fusarium, particularly F. oxysporum. Using contaminated media resulted in disease of western white pine tree improvement trees, but did not cause abnormally high levels of disease in conifer production stock. This may have been due to relatively large populations of Trichoderma spp., also detected in the media. Since peat-based growing media has not normally contained high populations of potentially-pathogenic fungi in the past, it is important to determine if further shipments of media from the applicable manufactures are contaminated. If so, steps should be taken to reduce future contamination.
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Author(s): USDA Forest Service