TOPIC: Planting in soil with Rhizoctonia problem.

Three years ago I planted 2 pounds of seeds in areas that seemed perfect for ginseng to grow. Had perfect shade with plenty of companion plants. Some of the areas had about 90% germination rate and others areas had less than 5% of the seeds germinating. All seeds where from the same batch.

After many of hours of pondering and digging up and investigating the seeds that appeared to have started to open up under the soil but were being eaten away by some kind of disease. Most of the seeds had small areas eaten into the little sprout coming out of the seed shell. I came to the conclusion that it was Rhizoctonia Solani, which can cause Pre-Damping off disease and is also a disease that causes Root Rot and Rusty Root on older plants.

So last fall I did a test plot of seeds in these areas. Treated seeds with Bacillus Subtilis GB03. And after planting drenched the soil with Chipco - Iprodione.

The test area came up this last spring with about 84% surviving through this summers growing season.

So I will attempt to plant these areas again this week with the same treatment and see what comes up in the spring.

I have over 40,000 plants growing right now from 1 to 4 years old and have never had to spray anything on them. But I knew it could'nt last forever.

Below is some pics of these areas that are cleared and ready to plant. We had a couple inches of rain and the leaves have just began to drop. So the timing to plant seems perfect.

Future Garden

One More

classicfur,that is a really good looking planting site.Do you till the ground at all?

Lenno

Thanks, I hope the seng grows as well as the planting site looks right now.

After raking the leaves back, I use a Hound Dod Garden Cultivator just enough to loosen the top 3/4- 1\" of soil. It does a fine job

Here is their website.

www.hound-dog.com/cultivator.htm#

classicfur