2019 ASHS Annual Conference

There is renewed interest in industrial hemp as a fiber, grain and medicinal crop plant. In the 2018 US Farm Bill, hemp was exempted as a regulated plant species, allowing biological and chemical pesticides to be used in commercial production. An Integrated Solutions IR-4 project was initiated at Cornell by Professor Alan Taylor (Cornell AgriTech Seed Technology Laboratory) in cooperation with Professor Gary Bergstrom (Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Ithaca) to develop and test selected biopesticide and chemical seed treatments for control of damping-off. The primary soil pathogen responsible for post-emergence damping-off in the Cornell field soils evaluated was Pythium. Biological seed treatments including Trichoderma and Bacillus were provided by four registrants. A phosphite, as well as chemical fungicide seed treatment combinations were also included in the experiments. Lab and field test results will be discussed during the workshop.