VIEW ARTICLE

Effect of Leachates from Peach Soil and Roots on Bacterial Canker and Growth of Peach Seedlings. W. A. Chandler, Departments of Plant Pathology and Horticulture, University of Georgia, Georgia Station, Experiment 30212; J. W. Daniell, Departments of Plant Pathology and Horticulture, University of Georgia, Georgia Station, Experiment 30212. Phytopathology 64:1281-1284. Accepted for publication 23 April 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-64-1281.

Peach seedlings were grown in water culture solutions containing leachates from old peach orchard soil, from soil in pots with an accumulation of peach roots, and from nonpeach soil. Old peach soil and “pot” soil leachates resulted in reduced growth of seedlings. After inoculation with Pseudomonas syringae, the longest cankers developed on plants growing in leachates from the pots and, after an extended period, the bacteria were reisolated from more of the seedlings in this treatment than from those in other treatments. It is postulated that when trees are replanted on old peach sites, an uptake of some water soluble substance from dead peach roots by the trees may predispose them to bacterial canker and contribute to peach tree short-life.