Weed management is one of the main challenges for organic agriculture. Soil solarization has been shown to be an effective mitigation strategy for weeds and soil borne plant pathogens but few studies have been conducted in cooler climates such as the Pacific Northwest.
Soil solarization is a pre-planting practice to reduce weed pressure by trapping solar energy using a transparent polyethylene film to heat soil. Soil solarization has been successfully used in regions with high solar radiation. The purpose of this research was to determine if soil solarization under Pacific Northwest conditions could...
Soil solarization has been used throughout the world, but its effect on plant growth variables in ornamental tree saplings in the Willamette Valley are not well documented. Solarization could be an alternative to chemical controls for soil pathogens and weeds, and it may also influence plant growth factors. This study...
Solarization could be an alternative to chemical controls for soil pathogens and weeds, and it may also influence plant growth factors. Biomass, shoot length, and AMF colonization were examined in red oak (Quercus rubra), Mazzard cherry (Prunus avium), and hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) at J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. nursery...
Nursery and greenhouse products are economically important agricultural commodities for Oregon and Washington. Nursery crops including tree seedlings can be damaged or killed by soilborne plant pathogens, which can be challenging to manage because of their persistence in soil and limited options for control. Soil solarization is a pre-planting soil...
Soil solarization trials were conducted during the growing seasons of 2016-2018 with the purpose of determining if solarization was an effective pre-planting soil disinfestation technique for tree nurseries in the Pacific Northwest. A large data set was collected on soil properties and biological indicators from 5 interdisciplinary experiments. This thesis...
Infestations of container nursery beds by Phytophthora spp. can be persistent and costly. One method of disinfestation that does not require the use of chemicals is soil solarization, which captures energy from the sun to heat soil and thermally inactivate target pathogens. In laboratory temperature gradient experiments, I investigated the...
In horticultural nurseries for container-grown plants, production and sales have been threatened by the presence of a quarantined plant pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum (causal agent of sudden oak death). Infested nursery beds are an important source of P. ramorum, which can initiate disease through movement with surface water to infect roots...
Green manures, soil solarization, and long rotations with crops not susceptible to Verticillium wilt are among the disease management tactics currently under investigation as alternatives to chemical fumigation of soil. The effect of a broccoli green manure on soil microsclerotial populations of three isolates of Verticillium dahliae and on Verticillium...
Nurseries are an important part of the agriculture industry of the United States. The nursery industry provides ornamental, forest, restoration and specialty products to many markets in N. America. The disease sudden oak death, caused by Phytophthora ramorum, has devastating environmental and economic impacts on forested land, the urban-forest interface,...