Methyl Bromide and Steam Treatment of an Organic Soil for Control of Fusarium Yellows of Celery. R. T. Awuah, Department of Plant Pathology, New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca 14853. J. W. Lorbeer, Department of Plant Pathology, New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca 14853. Plant Dis. 75:123-125. Accepted for publication 24 May 1990. Copyright 1991 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-75-0123.

Fumigation of an organic soil naturally infested with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. apii race 2 with a mixture of 98% methyl bromide and 2% chloropicrin (0.15 kg a.i./m²) eradicated the pathogen that causes Fusarium yellows of celery from both the soil and the celery root pieces in the soil. Celery seedlings and transplants grown for 12 and 5 wk, respectively, in the fumigated soil were disease-free. Pasteurization (70 C, 30 min) and autoclaving (121 C, 3 hr) of the soil also destroyed the pathogen and, in addition, greatly stimulated growth of celery seedlings. In general, top growth of direct-seeded celery was not affected by duration of poststeaming soil incubation. When celery was transplanted into unincubated steamed soils, however, considerable injury occurred and top growth was significantly less than in soils incubated for 12, 24, or 36 days.