First off nematodes are microscopic...you can't see them. From what I've heard you can tell if they've been on your plants by the roots. The roots will look very knotty. There are some very successful veggie gardeners here that I'm sure will come on and provide you with better information. YOu should see some of their gardens. And they are all in pots. I believe.

Hi
Must be quite a shock from the "Garden of Eden" to the "sauna" lol Where did you live there?? I loved that climate . No advice for you though I follow that if I have nematodes I grow something else lol
Certainly a lot of advice on Floridata???
Everybody fights them here so I'm sure they'll be much advice coming??? gary

Here is some good info on plants that are resistant. Someone posted this earlier. Go to the top and click on search for this forum and search for nematodes. There is a lot of good info here already.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nematode resistant plants

It's my understanding that the natural way to get rid of them is cover your garden, in the hottest part of the year, with either a clear or more likely black plastic covering.

Review 'Solarization' at the below link.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/NG005

Also, just good old compost will apparently hurt, if not eliminate, them.

Here is a link that might be useful: FL Nematodes

For ornamentals, as mentioned above, try to find resistant plants. Mulch (organic, not plastic or weedmat) is good - it isn't a nematode friendly environment. Chitin is supposed to be bad for nematodes - something for you to do with your shrimp shells and crab shells, all chopped up.

For veggies, only some are very sensitive, and you can get resistant varieties of most. Mulch and dig it in between garden seasons. Use pots, or raised beds. I have 4 x 4 and 4 x 6 cedar beds I bought online, but you can make your own with cedar or redwood boards (no treated lumber). I stapled hardware cloth over the bottoms of my beds to keep the gophers out, and set the beds up on corrugated poly carport cover panels. The panels were mostly to keep tree roots out, but they also keep the garden soil out of contact with the local soil. That lasts only so long, so I solarize in the summer. One month to 6 weeks in July or August, 4 mil clear (not black or white) plastic is what you need. I've done this solarizing successfully on a regular in-ground veggie garden for many years when I lived near Tampa, so it works well. Your soil will be a little lifeless after solarizing, though - inoculating your beans and peas is helpful for good crops. And, of course, the mulch helps restore the microflora. I've used spoiled hay (unspoiled is weedy) and rinsed seaweed - all good. (The seaweed will be full of little crustacean hoppers - there's some chitin for you!)

You can havea fine garden - just gather info, read Florida garden books, call your Ag extension. (in other words, just what you are doing) And we're all here to help! :-)

Good gardening!
Eileen

Good info Eileen and well written .
For any garden question - checking the UF site is one of the best places to start .
Here is a link ( 332 to be exact ) that is full of nematode info .
Beware - the info is not encouraging .
I find the scientific literature on nematodes very confusing and I have a science degree ,
so don't feel bad if you read all this and say - huh ?
But at least you'll know what you're up against .

Here is a link that might be useful: General Nematology

I WANT to thank yall for all the links and information on the nematoads ...it almost makes me not want to grow veggies but since i just ordered 25 packages of seed. I will have to experiment some in pots and some in the ground
I live for 60 on the west side of the mountains, grew up in Seattle , 20 years in the Gig Harbor to Bremerton area the on to Tacoma..and finailly Birch Bay 3 miles from the Canadian border on the I-5 coridor.
I loved the comment about the garden of eden. However the wet weather and Fibro Myalgia and Arthritis dont mix I love FLORIDA. I am a year-rounder. I live in Polk county.

Dwarf French marigolds (but not so much the other varieties of marigolds) are supposed to repel nematodes. And they look really pretty mixed in with the veggies in the garden bed. AND I'm pretty sure they attract bees - so they're handy all around. I'd get seeds for the Dwarf French marigolds while I was seed-shopping if I was you; although you may have to wait until spring to plant them.

From Kern California website;
A sure fire way to control nematodes and many soil borne pests is the use of soil solarization. Soil solarization works well in the Southwest parts of the US but needs to been done in the summer months to get the most of its effects. Soil solarization entails wetting the soil to be treated thoroughly and then covering it with a clear plastic tarp. The edges of the tarp are sealed all the way around with soil. As the sunlight energy pass through the clear plastic tarp, it hits the soil and is converted to heat energy and is trapped by the plastic tarp. A cycling of heating and cooling occurs between the daylight and nighttime hours. Over a period of 2 to 3 weeks this heating-cooling cycle will kill may pathogens including nematodes. The key to making this work is doing it in the summer months, only wetting the soil once, and using clear plastic tarp.
Adding shrimp or crab shell meal to the soil can also help reduce the nematodes numbers in the soil. The egg cases of nematodes are composed of chitin, as is the shells of crabs and shrimp. Adding shell meal to the soil increases the number of microbes that break down chitin, including the chitin of the nematode eggs cases. Shrimp and crab meal is sold as an organic fertilizer and can be found at organic garden suppliers.
Lastly, there are some crops that can be grown that can have a nematicidal effect if turned under as a green manure. Green manure is the term used to grow a crop and then incorporate it into the soil while still being green. Excellent green manure cover crops for the summer would be sesame, sunn hemp and certain black-eyes peas such as Iron Clay. In the winter months plants such as mustards and certain marigolds turned under as green manure would help reduce nematode populations. French marigolds (Tagetes spp) such as "Petite Blanc," "Queen Sophia," and "Tangerine" work best. On variety "Nemagold" has actually been breed and sold for use as a nematicidal green manure crop. Avoid Signet marigolds (Tagetes signata or tennifolia) because nematodes can actually increase on these.
Controlling nematodes in the garden begins with prevention and proper planning. If they do become a problem there are options a gardener can take. But controlling nematodes in the garden will make for a more bountiful harvest in the end.

I found a site that claims that Neem Oil can be used as a nematicide among its many other uses. I bought a gallon of pure cold pressed Neem oil from ebay for $45 shipped from Lakeland FL.

You have to mix it according to the instructions then spray it directly on the soil or on the plants as may be the case. It goes a long way since you only use 1 oz per gallon of water only pre-mixed with the emulsifier.

It will not kill the plants because it is derived from a plant. It will only kill the bad bugs both seen and unseen.
The only caution that I found with Neem oil if used on the leaves is to make sure that you apply it when the temperature is below 85 degrees. If it is wet and the temperature goes above 85 degrees it will burn the leaves on the plant. The plant will not die but it will look ugly until it drops the leaves and then renews them.

Solarization usually doesn't work, gets the top 6" of soil, nematodes easily live down to 18". However, nematodes don't like highly organic material. If you really want to garden in-ground check with Christine, I'll bet her veggies grown in her yearly renewal of aged mushroom compost suffer very little from nematode damage....

Tom