Preservatives treatment and field test monitoring of spruce pole stock: CCA and fumigant treatments

IRG/WP 3619

A J Pendlebury, B Goodell

The fumigants trichloronitromethane (chloropicrin) and sodium N-methyldithiocarbamate (SNMDC) were used to treat red spruce pole stock, either CCA treated or untreated, through holes bored through the pole's center. The poles were analyzed for the presence of microorganisms immediately before ground installation and again after installation at a pole test site. Monitoring of fumigant movement in the poles was also performed after one year. Results indicate that both fumigants moved throughout the ground line regions of the poles, although less toxicity to the bioassay fungus was observed in the SNMDC treated poles. Reduced fumigant levels, and more sporadic diffusion was noted in the above ground portions of both chloropicrin and SNMDC treated poles although again chloropicrin exhibited greater toxicity to the bioassay fungus. Despite the variability of fumigant diffusion as determined by bioassay, no decay fungi could be isolated from the treated poles after one year. This was in contrast to high frequency isolation of decay from control poles.


Keywords: CCA; CENTRE-BORING; FIELD TESTS; FUMIGANTS; POLES; SODIUM N-METHYL-DITHIOCARBAMATE; CHLOROPICRIN

Conference: 90-05-13/18 Rotorua, New Zealand


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