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- Author or Editor: Laura Pickett Pottorff x
- HortScience x
With the cooperation of six commercial greenhouses (five in Colorado, one out of state), rooted poinsettia cuttings and bedding plant plugs were collected and analyzed for Pythium and Rhizoctonia, two common root rotting pathogens in Colorado greenhouses. Samples of plant, soil, and water debris were taken from four greenhouses, as well as samples of growing media ready for use. These were also analyzed for Pythium and Rhizoctonia. Fungi recovered from the plant, debris, or growing media samples were identified, grown in pure culture, and introduced into susceptible plants (Vinca minor) in pathogenicity studies. Neither pathogen was isolated from the rooted poinsettia cuttings tested. Pythium was not found in any of the plug material or in growing media. Rhizoctonia solani was found in 16% of the plug samples and 7% of the growing media samples tested. Debris from greenhouse floors yielded four species of Pythium as well as Rhizoctonia solani. Isolates of each fungus were able to colonize, but not adversely affect, inoculated plants in pathogenicity studies. It appears that disease causing organisms that have potential to decrease plant quality and growth are already present in the greenhouse. Control of root rotting pathogens can best be carried out by relying heavily on sanitation measures.