Stump treatment with sodium tetraborate (borax) to control infection by Heterobasidion annosum and to reduce losses was tested in 10 true fir stands in California. These stands were thinned in 1978, 1979, or 1980, and borax was applied to stumps on 0.5 ha plots. Adjacent 0.5 ha plots were left untreated. Borax reduced stump surface infection but did not affect tree mortality between paired treated and untreated plots. The incidence of H. annosum increased for borax-treated stumps whose protected surfaces were removed 1 year earlier. The number of firs that died over the period of the study was positively correlated with the average age of the trees. Differences in mortality were not significant between treated and untreated plots West. J. Appl. For. 7(1):29-31
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Schultz et al. (1992) studied this question.