VIEW ARTICLE

Disease Control and Pest Management

Soil Fumigation and Peach Rootstocks for Protection Against Peach Tree Short-Life. Eldon I. Zehr, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631; R. Walker Miller(2), and Fred H. Smith(3). (2)(3)Assistant Professor, and Professor, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631. Phytopathology 66:689-694. Accepted for publication 17 November 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-66-689.

In peach tree short-life sites in South Carolina, soil fumigation for control of Criconemoides xenoplax resulted in improved growth and vigor of peach trees, and fewer losses to bacterial canker and cold injury were observed in fumigated soil over a 3-year period. However, growth response to fumigation, vigor, and tree losses were affected by rootstock as well as by nematode control. Tree losses were negligible when both Lovell rootstock and soil fumigation were used, but some tree loss occurred even in fumigated soil when the rootstocks were Nemaguard or Elberta. Without fumigation, tree losses were very severe in two sites when Nemaguard rootstock was used. Growth response to fumigation of infested soils generally was less on Lovell rootstock than on Elberta or Nemaguard. In noninfested soils, no growth response to fumigation was observed and no tree loss occurred. Criconemoides xenoplax appeared to predispose peach trees to short-life, but control of this nematode by fumigation did not prevent tree death from bacterial canker or cold injury if rootstocks other than Lovell were used.