The Importance of Soil Fumigation: Forest Seedlings

The benefits of soil fumigation for forest tree seedling production extend beyond the nursery to the millions of acres of forests that depend on healthy seedlings for their establishment. Without soil fumigants, forest tree nursery producers would experience lower yields and decreased seedling quality and potentially spread pathogens, diseases, weeds and other soilborne pests into newly planted forest areas. Losses of up to 100 % are possible if pest free certification cannot be met due to inadequate pest control. Technical Summary In 1999, over 1.6 billion forest tree seedlings were produced in the United States, including conifer and hardwood seedlings that are used for reforestation, forest establishment, fiber production, Christmas tree production, wildlife habitat and conservation purposes (Table 1). More recent production estimates for the southern US estimate that 832 million seedlings were produced for planting in the 2010/11 season, 96 % of which were conifers (Tables 2 and 3). In the state-owned nurseries of the Northeast, 65 million seedlings were available for planting i