Nematodes

[Volvo]

Just uprooted and binned the only two Eggplants i had in the patch as they were going nowhere!! , Roots showed the source of the Problem "Nemataodes!!".
Just hope theres none to drift over to my Tomato Plants , but ide say thats wishfull thinking??.
Any home cures without having to resort to pesatciseds/Chemicals??..

[imp]

Not an expert on nematodes, but I don't think there is much you can do to spray, drench or ? in to stop them as a gardener, though there are some methods for big farms/ag outfits. There are things such as a cover crop of mustards and nematode resistant tomato plants, or possibly grafting.

[Volvo]

Mustard seed as a cover crop they say and dig in??>

[Whwoz]

That is what the thinking is Volvo, no experience with them myself, but a number of threads on here discussing them. High organic matter in soil seems to be a plus, as do the oils in Mustard. GoDawgs has them and with a bit of luck will comment here. A search should reveal more threads

Originally Posted by Volvo

Mustard seed as a cover crop they say and dig in??>

[GoDawgs]

Volvo, I feel for you. Discovering nematodes in the garden is not fun. I've been doing battle with them for at least five years. They only appeared when I had a load of top soil delivered to add to 12 newly built raised beds when I retired. Then they spread to other beds probably because I was using shovels, etc in an infested bed and then taking that implement right to an uninfected bed and using it in there. Nematodes will slowly but surely also spread via rain runoff.

My battle with them is documented here along with links for further reading:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...matodes&page=7

Lots of reading done, lots of experimenting. One thing for sure is that if you have 'todes, you have them. There is no getting rid of them. You can only beat them into temporary submission. More organic material in the soil and letting infected beds go fallow a season help set them back. I have 16 raised beds 4'x18' so that's not too hard but it can be tough if you have only a few beds or no beds as in open areas that are row cropped.

Nematodes are inactive in cool soils (don't harm plants) and become active again when soil temps reach 65 degrees. Because of that, fall/winter things don't seem to be bothered. I have a hunch, not proven, that spring stuff planted as early as it can be in an infected area will develop roots old enough by the time the 'todes wake up to keep damage to a minimum. Perhaps roots toughen up as they age to a point where it's harder for nematodes to penetrate them? That varies year to year. Too many other variables to account for too.

I've tried growing and tilling in mustard but it hasn't worked very well. It has to be intensively planted, chopped up well and watered in. Pain in the butt. However, I happened to notice within the past year or so that infected beds that had fall/winter brassicas grown in them had a depopulation of 'todes to the point where I could successfully grow a susceptible crop in that same bed come spring. My usual broccoli, cabbage, kale, collards etc (fall and spring plantings) are what's been planted. Since none of that was tilled in I can only guess something is coming off the plant roots to knock them back.

Planting things that nematodes don't mess with helps starve them for a season. It's akin to letting the soil go fallow. They don't mess with my alliums or corn, some of which (popcorn, very early sweet corn) gets planted in beds where nematodes have been the season before. Flowers don't seem to be bothered so far, at least not zinnias, marigolds, coneflowers, daisies, etc.

Sanitation has become a routine. I rinse off implements that have just been used in *any* bed and spray with a 10% bleach solution before using them in another bed.

I think that this year the soil building, sanitation, fallowing, temporarily reducing populations by planting stuff they don't eat is having a positive effect. I would suggest trying to plant brassicas wherever you see nematode damage starting to try to reduce spread. Map your garden and be sure to note where you find nematodes and concentrate efforts there. Sanitize.

Good luck and please update with your efforts to battle them and any results!

[Volvo]

Originally Posted by GoDawgs

Volvo, I feel for you. Discovering nematodes in the garden is not fun. I've been doing battle with them for at least five years. They only appeared when I had a load of top soil delivered to add to 12 newly built raised beds when I retired. Then they spread to other beds probably because I was using shovels, etc in an infested bed and then taking that implement right to an uninfected bed and using it in there. Nematodes will slowly but surely also spread via rain runoff.

My battle with them is documented here along with links for further reading:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...matodes&page=7

Lots of reading done, lots of experimenting. One thing for sure is that if you have 'todes, you have them. There is no getting rid of them. You can only beat them into temporary submission. More organic material in the soil and letting infected beds go fallow a season help set them back. I have 16 raised beds 4'x18' so that's not too hard but it can be tough if you have only a few beds or no beds as in open areas that are row cropped.

Nematodes are inactive in cool soils (don't harm plants) and become active again when soil temps reach 65 degrees. Because of that, fall/winter things don't seem to be bothered. I have a hunch, not proven, that spring stuff planted as early as it can be in an infected area will develop roots old enough by the time the 'todes wake up to keep damage to a minimum. Perhaps roots toughen up as they age to a point where it's harder for nematodes to penetrate them? That varies year to year. Too many other variables to account for too.

I've tried growing and tilling in mustard but it hasn't worked very well. It has to be intensively planted, chopped up well and watered in. Pain in the butt. However, I happened to notice within the past year or so that infected beds that had fall/winter brassicas grown in them had a depopulation of 'todes to the point where I could successfully grow a susceptible crop in that same bed come spring. My usual broccoli, cabbage, kale, collards etc (fall and spring plantings) are what's been planted. Since none of that was tilled in I can only guess something is coming off the plant roots to knock them back.

Planting things that nematodes don't mess with helps starve them for a season. It's akin to letting the soil go fallow. They don't mess with my alliums or corn, some of which (popcorn, very early sweet corn) gets planted in beds where nematodes have been the season before. Flowers don't seem to be bothered so far, at least not zinnias, marigolds, coneflowers, daisies, etc.

Sanitation has become a routine. I rinse off implements that have just been used in *any* bed and spray with a 10% bleach solution before using them in another bed.

I think that this year the soil building, sanitation, fallowing, temporarily reducing populations by planting stuff they don't eat is having a positive effect. I would suggest trying to plant brassicas wherever you see nematode damage starting to try to reduce spread. Map your garden and be sure to note where you find nematodes and concentrate efforts there. Sanitize.

Good luck and please update with your efforts to battle them and any results!

Mate thats greatly appreciated and YES i think what you say is right . One thing i am near sure of is they cant live in Red Soil , at least not this neck of the woods from what im told and why a lot of our Vegy and Fruit Farms are situated in the South east Corner of the State here .
Climate as well as the Red Soil im told .
Would love to know someone with a tip truch running errends down that way bring me back a load of Red soil see if this method proves correct but fear the cost would be out of my pocket leauge lol..
But who knows ??further down the track.
I plant to have another planting of seedling prior to Spring so hope what you said about the plant setting itself up prior to the warmer soil temps helping .
Will make a note see if this helps .
I do know that last year i laid heaps of Sugercain and other mulch in the vegypatch and let it sit ide hence this lot of Tomatos comming in the "So Far So Good" catagory..
Apart from Grandchildren visiting i love my Gardening near as much as i like my Fishing and suffer when either is missing lol..

[Volvo]

And offcourse another passion which has not seen the press of a shutter for quite some time ..
taken from a Trip to Cyprus at the end of River Cruise wife see her Brother .
cant resist old Houses , Buildings , Steam trains etc ..

[Volvo]

And that is one hellova Fig Tree hugging the house there ey , only problem was , wrong time of the year for ripe Figs !!..

[spring5]

I am new to this forum and from Australia but as far as nematodes go i zap my wet dirt with 240 volts, as long as the soil is damp you only need the positive to zap the soil, in the USA 110 volts would do the same, and i put the positive clip at the top of the plant and get 240 volts right through the plant and the soil as well and it kills just about any other problems at the same time, and if you try this please be carefull.



With regard to the above i also use this method to get rid of anything in the area like ants, spiders, etc.

[lwaedemon]

Doesn't kill the plant?