When to Pull Them

[AlittleSalt]

On one site, I read that they are not active in ground temperatures below 64F.

Worth, I did pull the leaves back - but probably should have removed them altogether until it quits raining so often.

Here is a site with info on solarization and other techniques. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/g...ummer_heat.htm

As I wrote above - the marigolds we always grow are dwarf French. It looks like we're going to have a colorful garden from now on.

I went out into the garden and wrote down which tomato varieties look and produced the best. Maybe some of them have nematode resistance - or it could be those plants just didn't get attacked as much? None of the ones with more than one plant are planted beside each other.

Amethyst Jewel - 2 plants
WOW - 2 plants
Japanese pink cherry - 2 plants
Rebel Yell - several plants
Indigo Blue Berries - 2 plants
Yellow Centiflor Hypertress
Exp. Yellow PL Cherry
Carbon Copy
Big Beef
Couilles de Taureau - no fruit
Sweetie - 2 plants

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

Interesting. I do plant marigolds but thought all the talk was wife tale. I use them as a watering gauge.

In S. Fl. It's for sure a wives tale( marigolds to fend off nematodes) so is amending the soil with organics to make the nematodes less. You could amend perfectly for 30 years straight and the nematodes will still be an infestation. S. FL. Is extremely infested, every square inch of it.
Solarization kills them, but only for 3 months or so.
I like a container with a barrier to the soil. Still, this season one of my Earthboxes became infested because the yard man weed whacked at an angle, and spattered native soil over the earthboxes, some fell into the planting hole opening in the plastic mulch topper, and that was that.

[My Foot Smells]

Originally Posted by Worth1

It matters a lot from what I have read.
Heck I had stink bugs all winter long.
I found one on my plants in the house.
One of the best things you can do to alleviate the nematodes is to put as much organic matter in the soil as it can stand.
This helps break up their ability to move in the soil.

Worth

Twas mild and does seem extra buggy. But, then again, I b:tch about the bugs every year.

[decherdt]

I hear a proper Northern Winter really knocks them back. I'm going with Sunn Hemp cover crop in July instead of black eye peas this year. Then Elbon with clover and alfalfa cover late Fall, maybe thanksgiving or so.

[My Foot Smells]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

In S. Fl. It's for sure a wives tale( marigolds to fend off nematodes) so is amending the soil with organics to make the nematodes less. You could amend perfectly for 30 years straight and the nematodes will still be an infestation. S. FL. Is extremely infested, every square inch of it.
Solarization kills them, but only for 3 months or so.
I like a container with a barrier to the soil. Still, this season one of my Earthboxes became infested because the yard man weed whacked at an angle, and spattered ative soil over the earthboxes, some fell into the planting hole opening in the plastic mulch topper, and that was that.

Dadgum

[Worth1]

There really is no getting rid of them other than the atomic bomb or the next ice age.

One thing a person can do is to make darn sure any landscape plant they bring in doesn't have them.
One thing Salt can do is stack brush up on the beds and start a big fire.
It might help a little.

Worth

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Worth1

There really is no getting rid of them other than the atomic bomb or the next ice age.

One thing a person can do is to make darn sure any landscape plant they bring in doesn't have them.
One thing Salt can do is stack brush up on the beds and start a big fire.
It might help a little.

Worth

Well, I don't know about Salt, but it just now helped me! I got a visual of the coyote trying to foil the road runner. Thanks for that giggle, Worth.

[AlittleSalt]

One site said to use cornmeal ... oh this site http://www.klru.org/ctg/resource/root-knot-nematodes/

It does have a lot of ideas and the site isn't that much reading.

Worth, hmm - burn it down

Marsha, where are we going to find a 100 ton anvil to drop on it? Beep Beep

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Well, I don't know about Salt, but it just now helped me! I got a visual of the coyote trying to foil the road runner. Thanks for that giggle, Worth.

It is how I got rid of an infestation of grasshoppers one year.
Nothing like seeing a flying grass hopper spiraling out of the air like a shot up WWll fighter plane.
Worth

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

Interesting. I do plant marigolds but thought all the talk was wife tale. I use them as a watering gauge.

I don't think the evidence is stronger than "try it, it might help and probably won't hurt" level, but there is some reason to believe that marigolds may deter some pests. But the problem is -- not all marigolds.

I've wondered whether the difference may have originated with David Burpee's production of scentless or low scent marigolds in the mid 20th century, as part of his campaign to get the marigold named our national flower.

I suspect that older varieties, and more strongly "marigold smelling" varieties, may be effective in some situations, while many newer (as in developed within the past seventy or eighty years) and lower scented marigolds may be mostly decoration.

There is one variety sold as "guardian marigolds" which may be an older strain -- or may just be an attempt to sell something to those looking for a varmint vanquisher. I have seed that I'm going to try sometime but haven't grown them as yet. (No evidence at all, I fear, that they repel voles.) But there were many varieties of older marigolds, some both smelly and decorative, some of them must still be around.

[AlittleSalt]

Jan (My wife) came home and read the two links I posted above in posts 16 and 23. We both think it would be better to pull all the main garden plants and solarize. The main garden is 45' x 45'. That would mean

1. Pulling all the plants and weeds.
2. Removing the drip irrigation system
3. Adding the rest of the huge oak leaf pile.
4. Mulch mowing the leaves.
5. Till the ground deep.
6. Reinstall the drip irrigation to use as needed.
7. Water in the soil
8. Cover with clear poly.
9. Solarize for the summer - June through September.

Would 4 mil poly be thick enough? Going with 6 mil jumps the price up a lot.

Does this sound like the way to go to solarize? I have never done this before and am open to your thoughts and suggestions.

This would be our first step in combatting the RKN.

[JLJ_]

I noticed that Marsha said that solarizing helped, but only for about three months -- did someone, or some other source, say that they had found that it slew the wicked beasties long term? If not, perhaps you'd be better off seeing which varieties seem to be resistant? And perhaps planning some sort of comparison for next season? Just a thought.

[Cole_Robbie]

Sorry to hear about the nematodes. Now would be a great time to get into hydroponics.

[AlittleSalt]

JLJ,

No, I didn't find a site that proved that solarization would take care of them long term. Post number 26 is an idea that came from reading those two and many other sites and nothing is a foolproof way of eliminating RKN. My wife didn't have the time to read all the sites I did - she only read the two.

What I am hoping for is more replies just like yours.

I've been growing a garden for the past two years of way too much rain. I blamed every garden problem on too much rain. I'm glad to find out that there is a cause. It stinks that it is RKN, but at least, now I know where to start working on making our garden better. Solarization is one thought or approach. There are other things that help too.

There is even the thought (In the back of my mind) of building raised beds with solid bottoms in that 45' x 45' fenced in garden space. It would cost more, but be easier to plant and harvest things like summer squash - and most other things. Raised beds are much easier to work with.

There is a lot to think about. This was day 1 of finding out about RKN.



For years, the tomato roots look just like the ones I posted pictures of - I believed that was just what tomato roots look like.

[AlittleSalt]

Cole, yes it is an idea. I think I'd rather go fishing. That's my idea of hydro