The objectives of my Ph.D. thesis work at North Carolina State University are to:

(1) Identify cultural practices and/or soil amendments which are effective in reducing Phytophthora root rot in fir production systems;

(2) Determine the efficacy of commercially available compost testing methods in predicting disease suppressive potential of soil amendments, and develop testing protocols accordingly; and

(3) Examine the mechanisms of suppression in any successful cultural/amendment applications in order to provide the basis for future amendment testing and disease control strategies.

Field studies are currently underway to test the effects of wood chip and pine bark mulches, wood chips blended with compost, compost alone, and pH reduction via sulfur amendment on disease incidence and soil biological properties.  We currently have five sites, located in Mitchell, Avery, and Watauga counties in North Carolina, and in Grayson County, Virginia (the latter site is on a plantation which borders Ashe county, NC and is owned and operated by a NC grower). Container studies are being conducted at the nursery facility at NCSU to examine a wider variety of amendments than may be tested in the field.