The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1947-10-23
BY DAVID JAMES

| InOlQS winch 1--we on Stubble and
debris in the soil. They produce
seed-ike parts called spores which
II abundant give the seed a black
or olive color. However, in the
Horse Heaven country the sum-
mers are too dry for the spores to
get on the seed to any extent.
Therefore, the common root rot or
dry land root rot fungi spend
most of their life in our region in
the soil. They invade the roots
and crowns of the plants. They
cause some Stunting or sometimes
the stunting may be very slight.
In the Horse Heaven apparently
most OF the injury consists of a
browning of the roots and a dry
rot of the crown which results in
a certain amount of sterile heads
called white heads" Brown leaf
spots are common in some areas,
but are likely few or none in the
Horse Heaven during average
years at least.
It is difficult to tell drought con-
ditions from root rot at times. Too
much emphasis may be placed on
either, depending on the observer.
In the opinion of the writer, dry
land root rot is an important but
seldom devastating disease. On
an average it takes about 10 per
cent of what we call an average
crop over a wide area. Most farm
ers have learned to live with it.
Experiments have shown that
could we sterilize the soil over
large areas the yield of grain
would be greatly increased for
that year at least. Recently re-
port came from Japan that where
the soil had been burned by the
atom bombs yields were high.
This was attributed, first to radio
activity, then later to release of
stored food in the soil. The in
crease was also due to killing OF
the many detrimental soil fungi
and bacteria which compete with
the plant roots for food in the soil.
We know that the chemical chlor-
opicrin "a tear gaS) will Sterilize
soil and cause very great increase
in yield of grain and other crops.
Unfortunately it is much too cost
ly for the wheat farmer who deals
with soil on such a relatively ex-
tensive scale. This is the crux of
our difficulty in controlling these
soil carried diseases. No magical
powder has been invented or even
limited at that can be scattered
around the countryside to wipe
out these soil fungi which are so
common. We have to rely on tao
tics which tend to keep them in
bounds but which do not in any
sense eradicate them. Let us but
briefly discuss these practices:
SEED TREATMENTS. In the
Horse Heaven country this will not
control the disease because the
molds seldom occur in any guam
tity on the seed. However, seed
treatment for control of bunt is
important and any stray molds on
the seed will be killed by use of
a half-gaseous material such as
New Improved Ceresan, " ounce
per bushel. The new trials with
Ceresan-M using the so-called
"Slurry method" are encouraging
in that the faults of the mercury
dust may be largely eliminated.
In the slurry method machine
dumps a thin paste or "slurry" at
the rate of about an ounce or less
of liquid to ten pounds of grain.
This results in only about an or
binary tumblerful of water added |
to sack of grain. The grain is |
completely covered with wet or |
damp coating of the chemical. This |
may be helpful in discouraging
soil-carried molds from attacking
the sprouting seed for few days.
DATE OF SEEDING: It is our
understanding that winter wheat |
is often seeded in August in the |
Horse Heaven country as long |
practice has shown the winter |
wheat needs good root system to
the following winter. It |
is always risky to make sugges-
tons which 60 against the wise |
of generations Of |
growers. In this case it has been
found, however, that common root |
rot or dry land root rot is greatly
favored by very early seeding in
warm August weather. White
heads are common in wheat which
had emerged very early. There
fore, we are confronted with the
question: Is the root rot injury be-
coming more serious than the risk
of winter injury in later seeded
wheat? No experiments have been
run in the region, as far as we
know, but in similar areas it has
been found that delaying the seed
ing until early September may be
more desirable in. fields where root
rot has been serious. It is sug-
gested that, if practical, the fields
be seeded at two or three dates,
week or so apart, and some OBJ
servations on yield made as to
which of these dates gave the best
Weld. If this proves practical, try
waiting a few days later than
usual. Don't over do it. Try TO
get good well rooted plant but
90 ono overprOWn and one that |