Quantitative Recovery of Rhizoctonia solani from Soil. A. H. C. Van Bruggen, Former Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. P. A. Arneson, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Plant Dis. 70:320-323. Accepted for publication 20 September 1985. Copyright 1986 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-70-320.

Only a small percentage (14–61%) of the sclerotia of R. solani mixed into soil was recovered with a wet-sieving technique 1 or 2 days after infestation. Most propagules of Rhizoctonia spp. retained on a sieve floated in water with the organic matter fraction, but 11% of the propagules sedimented with the sand fraction. The wet-sieving technique was compared with a soil-pelleting technique using an amalgam pistol to produce the pellets. This pelleting method recovered more propagules of Rhizoctonia spp. from soil than the wet-sieving method; however, the pelleting technique was more costly and labor-intensive than the wet-sieving technique.