Summary

Preplant soil disinfestation refers to several methods often used in high-value specialty crop production systems (such as vegetables, fruits, nursery crops, ornamentals and herbs) to eliminate or reduce soilborne pests and weeds prior to planting a crop. These methods can include fumigation with gaseous pesticides (such as methyl bromide), application of steam, soil solarization (mulching of moistsoils with clear plastic for extended periods of time in hot, sunny conditions), biofumigation (incorporation of residues of various mustard family plants), and flooding. The focus of this article is a more recently developed method, referred to as anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD).