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In‐vitro tests of dichlorophen against Erwinia carotovora, vars. atroseptica and carotovora, have shown good antibacterial activity; in‐vivo tests on potato tubers, however, showed poor control of bacterial soft rotting. Under aerobic or near anaerobic conditions, wounded potato tubers dipped in dichlorophen showed significant increases in soft rotting over water‐treated tubers. Under near anaerobic conditions, neither dichlorophen‐dipped nor water‐dipped tubers showed evidence of wound healing. However, when incubated aerobically, a distinct wound barrier was evident in the water‐dipped but not the dichlorophen‐dipped tubers. To investigate the possibility that dichlorophen was inhibitory to the initiation of wound healing, an image analysing computer was used to measure the accumulation of fluorescent products in the walls of sectioned tuber tissues treated with dichlorophen. Dichlorophen treatment resulted in very low levels of fluorescence, indicating little phenolic accumulation in the walls. Other bactericides also decreased fluorescence to some extent.

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