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Madison WI

At the end of my season last year, I had a disease test done on my soil and the results showed that I have high levels of Phytophthora (25 Ct to be exact). It also showed that I have medium levels of Fusarium (326 Cfu). I believe much of this was caused by overwatering and many times our soil was oversaturated (long story). Anyhow, I'm looking for advice on how best to treat this in my soil. Is there something I can apply in early spring to help? Thanks

3/16/2021 12:32:29 AM

Grittyville, WA

Rootshield. A pound from Bioworks set me back $100 but in the one test I've done so far it seemed to help.

3/16/2021 12:47:05 AM

Grittyville, WA

And dont let your soil be excessively saturated for more than 15 minutes or so if possible. Just my opinion.

3/16/2021 12:49:50 AM

Bethlehem CT

Waterlogged soil is a huge cultural factor. In the landscape we just call those diseases "root rots". There can be many causal pathogens for (root rot) it doesn't necessarily matter which disease they are, fungal pathogens are pretty ubiquitous in nature. The disease triangle is completed when the environment is right for the disease to take root. In areas that contain high clay or other poorly drained soils they are very vulnerable to disease and to compound things a lot of these places are in the humid wet and warm south, so the soil conditions in these places make it even more difficult to grow there.

3/16/2021 2:13:44 PM

Grittyville, WA

Excess organics or raw materials not properly composted could invite the wrong things. Steve Daletas and others touched on this in the Cal Growers event, and the need for oxygen in the root zone. But very frustrating... I would try oats as a cover crop or let it go fallow. There are options. Some growers even import entirely new soil every year. That must take quite a budget.

If you can rotate crops (whatever grows really well is probably not a disease host?) Hopefully small improvements over time can eventually create big changes.

3/16/2021 3:12:55 PM

Madison WI

Our soil is is a silty loam but if you go 8-12 inches down, it's solid clay. We have added 2 truck loads of leaf compost for the last 2 years and I think that has helped increase the depth of our soil (which was 4-6 inches before hitting clay). I guess where I'm confused on this question is that knowing the diseases I mentioned are caused by too much water and too little drainage, can I assume that if we drastically reduce our water so we don't saturate, will that eliminate the disease or can I apply something (like Rootshield that Gritty mentions) to terminate the fungus or control it? Thanks

3/16/2021 3:38:47 PM

South Dakota

Subsoiling your soil down to 16 or so inches will help break up any plow pan and give you better drainage. You may also look into Mighty Mustard as a biofumigant. Last fall I took a 2 inch soil auger on the end of my portable drill and drilled down 16 inches in a one foot apart check pattern. Was easy to tell when you hit and when you went through the plow layer. I got a nice rear tine tiller at an auction that will go quit a bit deeper than my old walk behind that created the plow layer. Hoping to pulverize whats left of the compacted layer this spring, then I will adopt a minimum till system. Poor soil drainage is the number one cause of root rots.

3/16/2021 5:04:02 PM

Central NY

Sounds like my patch...Short answer...yes...you never want to saturate soil to the point of choking the roots...If you have issues with the bad pathogens then you will absolutely have to treat all season. Rootshield, companion...I’m sure there is a bunch. Clearys ihas been a good to have on hand when the problems start to show in spite of the systemics.

3/16/2021 5:11:56 PM

Bethlehem CT

I think Porkchops answer sums it up pretty well.

3/16/2021 5:57:39 PM

Bethlehem CT

Another tool for the tool box would be rotations. Try to stay away from consecutive years of the same crop. The ideal rotation is five years. I know that is not an option for most people. Plus I know first hand that rotating is not something you really want to do when so much time and money have been invested in another prime spot.

3/16/2021 6:00:56 PM

Madison, WI

LJ, I’ve been told breaking up the plow pan would be good for my soil. Now I just gotta find me a plow that can get down 16 inches :).
Thanks all for your opinions!

3/16/2021 10:17:56 PM

Dillonvale, Ohio

Has anyone used TerraClean to eliminate the disease in their patches? If so, did you test after using and what were the results?

3/18/2021 7:50:50 PM

Australia eastcoastcitrus@hotmail.com

if its possible you should crown your patchif you bring in material bring in media or products like coarse sand coal ash perlite that wont break down i had the same problem after a few years of adding products the centre is much higher than the edges

3/22/2021 4:11:00 PM

Almeria Spain

If you allow me some advice when the fusarium is already implanted in the soil it is very difficult to eliminate it so it is not worth the effort to change the soil add amendments or aggressive chemical treatments, there are some proven ways to solve it, the simplest is called solarization , consists of giving a good irrigation to the soil
And spread a transparent plastic for two summer months high temperatures
That are achieved, they exterminate most of the pathogens and then the soil recovers very quickly and is perfect --- another very effective way is to give several irrigations with
Ozonated water with a high redox level over 750 mv this kills all virus pathogens
And bad fungi --- another solution is the use of trichodermas that will colonize the matter
Organic soil and colonize it competing with bad fungi and occupying their space, the ideal is to use indigenous trichodermas of the place and finally my preferred way would be to solarize or use ozone first and once the soil has been disinfected and cleaned.
Of pathogens, sow with mycorrizas or trichodermas so that they multiply and make
His work, this is really the best without chemicals or other solutions that do not
They work, in the south of Spain in Almeria there are thousands of hectares and they all use solarization, before methane sodium and methane potassium were used but they are already prohibited
And solarization is used by the majority, for us a small patch would work
Very well I use olzone and autochthonous trichodermas with success.
I hope I can help with my comment.

4/9/2021 10:59:00 AM