ANTHRACNOSE SEVERITY ON Euonymus fortunei GROWN ON PLASTIC OR GRAVEL WITH OR WITHOUT PERIODIC BLEACH APPLICATIONS

• Published in: HortScience Vol. 40; no. 3; p. 875
• Main Authors: Boyer, Cheryl R, Cole, Janet C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.06.2005
• ISSN: 0018-5345; 2327-9834
• DOI: 10.21273/HORTSCI.40.3.875a

Euonymus fortunei (Turcz.) Hand.-Mazz. is susceptible to anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc. Fungicides have provided little control of anthracnose on E. fortunei in past studies. Identification of cultural practices that reduce disease incidence would be beneficial to the nursery industry. Containerized E. fortunei `Emerald'N Gold' plants were placed either on gravel beds or black plastic-covered gravel beds. Half of the beds in each bed treatment were sprayed with a 10% bleach solution monthly to attempt to reduce the presence of C. gloeosporioides inoculum. Plants were rated monthly from May (initial rating) through October for disease severity. A covariate analysis was performed using initial ratings as the covariate for ratings from all other months. Bleach did not affect disease ratings at any time. Disease ratings of plants on plastic-covered beds were lower than those of plants on gravel beds. Disease ratings decreased linearly as the growing season progressed.