The antagonistic fungus Phaeotheca dimorphospora was tested as a biocontrol agent against the Dutch elm disease pathogens, Ophiostoma ulmi and O. novo‐ulmi , on Ulmus americana seedlings in the glasshouse. Curative inoculation of seedlings with P. dimorphospora had no significant effect on disease development. Conditioning inoculation of seedlings with the antagonist protected them against O. ulmi but not against the more aggressive O. novo‐ulmi . In seedlings challenged with both the antagonist and either one of the pathogens, P. dimorphospora only spread locally around the inoculation point; however, the pathogens spread systemically throughout the whole plant. O. novo‐ulmi survived in the region colonized by P. dimorphospora , whereas O. ulmi did not.
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Bernier et al. (1996) studied this question.