Within the U.S. floriculture industry , cut peak calculate for over $ 382 million in annual national sale ( NASS 2019 ) . Although imported cut flower make up the majority of purchase , topically grown specialization cut efflorescence are facing a tremendous increase in popularity . This phenomenon is well reflected in the number of members of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers ( ASCFG ) , which has increased by more than 100 % in the last five yr ( J. Laushman ) .
Specialty cut bloom production systems are diverse and admit the use of soilless , soil - based , or a combination of these substrates , which can be reprocess over multiple seasons . Along with substrate reuse , the exercise of stain can enter the risk of soilborne disease because of kingdom Fungi and oomycete pathogen . Most of these pathogen need to build up high levels of inoculum ( i.e. , pathogen propagules ) before have noticeable disease , which can happen very speedily in intensive farming system of rules with limited rotations . Management of soilborne pathogen in farming configurations has historically relied on the use of chemical fumigation . This practice is very harmful to colly wellness because the chemical substance products used for grime disinfestation are nonselective and indiscriminately kill every organism , let in beneficial microbes . This reason , combined with increased concern for human and environmental health , has lead many cultivator to adopt more sustainable husbandry practices . Therefore , there is a motive for environmentally sound disease management tools that can be desegregate into sustainable agriculture .
A promising non - chemical alternative to soil fumigation is anaerobiotic soil disinfestation ( ASD ) . ASD is a pre - plant soil treatment that consist of three step . At first , an well analyzable carbon paper amendment is incorporated into the soil . Then , the soil is irrigate to saturation and tarped to prevent the resupply of oxygen . The institution of anaerobiotic conditions and their care over several weeks induces a change in the soil microbial composition , prompting a faulting from aerobic to anaerobic micro-organism . The accumulation of toxic chemical compound during the anaerobic incubation , and the hostility that anaerobe express towards plant pathogens , have been shown to have an issue in decreasing the survival of these pathogenic organisms in the land . In contrast with chemical substance fumigation , ASD has less event on untargeted land microorganisms , which makes this method acting better for the stain surround .
ASD has been test in recent years in many cropping systems , primarily nursery and field - grown vegetable and bailiwick - grown strawberries . However , it has not been sufficiently investigate in ornamental , and only a few studies have been bring out to engagement , specifically in make out flower production system . None of these cogitation were carried out in the temperate climates of the Midwestern and Eastern U.S. When ASD is introduced to a newfangled region and cropping system , it must be evaluated due to differences in climate , soil conditions , available carbon reservoir , and pathogens stage . Carbon amendment is one of the key variables in ASD efficacy since the type of carbon root will determine the kind of toxic compounds that are generated during brooding , as well as the sustenance of anaerobiotic conditions . Many carbon sources have been essay with successful outcome ; however , the handiness of the carbon copy amendment has a major role in driving their pick . To this end , by - products of local agricultural trade good can be utilise as carbon author as they are down in the mouth - toll and locally available , which are key factors to alleviate farmer adoption of this proficiency .
Research fund by the American Flower Endowment and the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers at the Ohio State University is judge the suitability of ASD for soilborne disease direction in the production of speciality cut efflorescence in moderate region . In the last year , a fungal and an oomycete pathosystem ( Rhizoctonia solani – old maid and Phytophthora drechsleri – gerbera daisy ) were used as model in control environmental configurations to evaluate ASD efficacy in both soilless and soil - based plant production . Each substratum was blend with pathogen inoculant and rectify with either pale yellow bran , tomato pomace , or soybean meal as the carbon paper reference . Amended substrates were incubate at 25 ° 100 ( 77 ° F ) for four week and then used as growing substrate for the two crops , which were monitored every week for disease development for up to five weeks post - transplant .
Additional experimentation are plan for the leaping - summertime of 2023 to evaluate the performance of ASD in the out-of-door production of old maid flower and snapdragon in raise beds .
