Composted Hardwood Bark: A Substitute for Steam Sterilization and Fungicide Drenches for Control of Poinsettia Crown and Root Rot1
in HortScienceAbstract
Rhizoctonia and Pythium crown and root rot of Euphorbia pulcherrima willd ex Kotzch cv. Annette Hegg Dark Red were suppressed in a composted hardwood bark medium amended with sphagnum peat. The suppression equalled that obtained in an aerated steam-treated peat medium drenched with fungicidies. Growth of ‘Annette Hegg Dark Red’ produced in the sphagnum peat-amended bark was improved over plants produced in a sterilized and fungicide drenched soil-peat-perlite medium. Addition of muck to composted hardwood bark negated the desirable growth effects.
Contributor Notes
Received for publication October 11, 1978. Approved for publication as Journal Article No. 142-78 of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, OH. Supported in part by grants from The Operations Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, United States Environmental Protection Agency, The Fred C. Gloeckner Foundation, Inc., 15 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010 and Mead Paygro, Mead World Headquarters, Court House Plaza Northeast, Dayton, OH 45402.
Former Post-doctorate, Department of Plant Pathology; Assistant Professor, Department of Horticulture; and Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, respectively; Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
