Never heard of a nematodes that eats only bulb & perennials, but not annuals, unless they came after the annuals. To cut the root off where you can see with the naked eye, may not be nematodes. This is because you can not see the eel like worms with reading glasses or the naked eye. Maybe Japanese Beetle grubs, that eat roots, not Green fruit beetle grubs ,which are bigger & eat compost. Google these bugs/worms to see them for yourself. It may be something I have not seen or heard of.

Okay---I tried to avoid this one, but I can't let you two go without some kind of (hopefully helpful) info on the subject! The Hosta Library has some pix of what the damage may look like. The stripes are very specific and do not extend beyond the two veins they fill. If you find a leaf looking like what I have linked below and want to be really sure, you need a magnifier, 10x minimum(jeweler's loupe is great flowerchild) and a clear glass bowl or custard dish with water. Cut the leaf in two, through the stripe and let one half soak 1-2 hours in the water! After that soak, place the custard cup with leaf and water in it, over a light source, very important. I use a lamp with a small lamp shade, the kind you screw the light bulb through to attach to the socket base. Then scan the water for little wrigglers. You can easily spot them because they will be so active! They will look like very short thin hairs, whipping back and forth, quickly. At this point, if you have them--you have to make some decisions. Is the plant worth the trouble of treating with a hot bath or bleach water soak? I've decided for myself, unless it is a very expensive plant to replace, it just isn't!! You can do a search on this forum for information regarding a hot-water treatment, if you think you'd like to try! I hope this has been helpful to you!! Janice :o) Here is a link that might be useful: hosta leaves with nematodes!

Jo, Like Larry, I've never seen any quantifiable independent research that shows neem oil applied to soil has any effect on nematodes, although I have seen such claims made by those who benefit from selling neem. I would never apply neem to soil because it likely would kill some of the good microbes in the soil which then would leave your soil less healthy. Remember that healthy soil is full of all kinds of biologically active creatures, which I tend to lump together in a group and call "microbes". What are these microbes and how many are there? The microorganisms include all sorts of microscopic plants and animals, including nematodes (there are beneficial ones, you know), fungi, actinomycetes, bacteria, yeast, germs, protozoa and algae. Healthy soil that has a good compost/humus content is believed to have as many as 50 billion microbes in 1 tablespoon of soil, according to organic gardening expert and author J. Howard Garrett, aka 'The Dirt Doctor'. Since all the microbes in soil play an important role in soil health, you don't want to put anything in the soil that would hurt those microbes. I'll use spider mites as an example of the unintended consequences of using a 'cide' to kill the bad pests and inadvertently killing beneficial insects too. While spider mites are a pest in certain circumstances, there are beneficial predatory mites that help keep the spider mites under control. When you spray a miticide on plants infested with spider mites, you kill not only some of the spider mites (most pesticides do not kill 100% of the pests) but also the predatory mites that help keep the number of spider mites down. When the mite population rebounds (and it always does), the pesky herbivore spider mites bounce back first because they feed on plants and plants are readily available so they have an endless food source. Then, in a much more slow manner, the predatory mite population, which are carnivores, rebounds. The problem is that beneficial insects rebound very slowly because the 'mamas' don't reproduce until there's already a good food source for their babies to eat. So, while the mama predatory mites are waiting for the food source to increase to the level they need, the spider mite population is growing very rapidly and getting out of control. Once the predatory mite population begins to surge and feed upon the spider mites, the spider mites have a huge head start and your plants are severely damaged. I think if you used neem in soil, you'd likely kill off a good portion of the microbes in the soil, leaving your soil less healthy, less fertile and more vulnerable to soil-borne pests, including root knot nematodes and various soil-borne diseases. So, even if the idea of trying neem is attractive, it could hurt more than it might help. I used the spider mite example to illustrate how using a 'cide' for pest control can backfire because it is the story of my life. My dad was a terrific gardener, but he fought spider mites my entire childhood, and he lost that battle in late July or so of every year, and so did his best gardening buddy, Mr. Camp. I watched the two of them try everything to kill those spider mites, but the spider mites always outlived and outlasted their efforts. So, I grew up thinking that no matter what you did, you would lose your tomato plants to spider mites in July. Eventually I grew up and had a home of my own and my own garden. During our second year in our house, we decided we wouldn't 'poison' our tomato plants with the miticide commonly sold to home gardeners back then. A miticide didn't help the first year in our new home when we did use it, so it seemed pointless to spend money buying it and then spend time spraying it on the plants the second year. What happened? Our spider mites didn't get out of control and our tomato plants didn't die. Once I convinced my dad to give up miticides, he never lost his tomato plants to spider mites again. Still, it probably was another dozen years or so before I finally understood why not using a miticide saved our plants from the mites, and that's because I didn't know back then that there was such a thing as predatory mites. So, I hope that tale illustrates the dangers of even attempting to use a soil treatment to kill the root knot nematodes. Even if it would kill the nematodes (which I highly doubt), it would kill all the other microbial life in the soil. As an organic gardener that is absolutely the last thing you need. Even worse, what I think most likely is the neem oil would kill the good microbes, but not the root knot nematodes. When I am trying to figure out what to use in my garden or landscape, I fall back on that old adage used by physicians.... "first, do no harm". You might have a chance of killing some of the root knot nematodes by applying beneficial nematodes to the soil. The most important factor affecting the efficacy of beneficial nematodes would be to apply them at precisely the exact temperature they need, and also to use the right beneficial nematodes. Dawn

Regarding the watering of plants... The next time you have a potted plant, make sure the bottom of the pot has at least 1 hole, take it to the sink and give it a thorough watering, so that water runs out of the hole(s). When it stops dripping, pick it up and note how heavy it feels. Note the turgidity and stance of the leaves. Then look at the plant and feel the leaves at least every other day for signs of wilting. When you determine that wilt has begun, pick up the plant again. Now you have a gauge. When the plant is slightly heavier than what you are holding now, it is ready for a drink. And now you also have a basic time frame for how long this takes but you will still water by the heft of the pot, not by the calendar since factors like humidity, temperature, and eventually the growth of the plant will alter the time frame. So, as you see, the best answer to "when should I water my plant?" is "right before it wilts." For a plant like snake plant, the wilting is not a factor you can use, but most plants will wilt, which is akin to a person first laying down on a death bed. Ideally, when the plant is thirsty, it will get a chance for thorough watering at the sink, and allowed to drip out. If you have the space and forethought, water that has had a chance to sit overnight will have the chlorine evaporated out of it, and is much more appreciated by your plants. Lots of cuttings can grow for years in water, or in ordinary yard dirt in a pot in the house. I've done both. Although some will grow noticeably bigger, I wouldn't say that most water-bound cuttings actually grow much, most are in more of a state of suspended animation. The worst thing that can happen really is you get lime scale on the jar or glass, so just don't use one of granny's antique wine glasses. If you want to try more like that, look at just about any non-woody plant trailing out of a hanging basket. Most of those will root and grow in water, and most of their owners would gladly break off a piece for you.