Project Number: 0500-00044-021-02
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 21, 2007
End Date: Dec 31, 2008

Objective:
Evaluate alternatives to methyl bromide (MB) for sweet potato hotbeds that are agronomically acceptable and also meet regulatory approval.

Approach:
Fumigant and non-fumigant alternatives to MB will be examined for production of sweet potato slips in hotbeds. In addition to a non-fumigated control and a MB standard, fumigant treatments will include Telone II, Vapam, and chloropicrin. Non-fumigant treatments will include solarization, Devrinol and Valor herbicides, Botran and Mertect fungicides, and sweet potato cultivars susceptible and resistant to Fusarium species affecting sweet potato. The fumigant and solarization treatments will be tested alone and in selected factorial combinations with the herbicide, fungicide, and cultivar treatments. The treatments will be evaluated for effects on management of nematode and weed populations and on disease incidence in sweet potato slip production. Documents SCA with UC Cooperative Extension, Merced County.