Restoring Vegetation Where Complete Sanitation Is Impractical: Operational Establishment of Musa spp. and Bischofia javanica in Brown Root Rot-Affected Zones at Shimen Reservoir, Taiwan

Brown root rot disease (BRRD), caused by Pyrrhoderma noxium, creates a post-sanitation restoration problem where complete root excavation and soil fumigation are environmentally or operationally impractical. This retrospective observational study reconstructed archival records from an integrated management program at Shimen Reservoir, Taiwan, to characterize the field establishment and growth of Musa spp. as a candidate rapid-establishment component and Bischofia javanica as a potential long-term woody-canopy component. Across 15 management zones, the program planted 1045 B. javanica seedlings in 11 zones and 527 Musa plants in six zones. Four quarterly censuses recorded quarter-specific pooled alive-status proportions of 31.8, 31.1, 29.9, and 29.9% for B. javanica and 72.1, 70.4, 71.0, and 77.8% for Musa. Fixed monitoring cohorts of 95 B. javanica and 50 Musa documented continued growth among measurable individuals. Because plant groups and management zones were non-randomly allocated, no untreated controls were available, and plant-by-plant BRRD status was not systematically diagnosed, these results describe contrasting operational establishment trajectories rather than differential BRRD resistance. The records support ‘outpacing disease’ as a prospective restoration hypothesis—not a demonstrated pathogen-suppression or functional-restoration strategy—in which vegetation establishment may proceed while sanitation, monitoring, and selective woody re-establishment continue.