Both of my older beds that had tomatoes are 100% affected. Tomatoes: badly. Bush Beans:badly. Parsley: somewhat. Sunchoke: somewhat (I think. The choke had a couple of weird hairy roots with knobs growing on them). Unaffected: Basil, marigolds, dill. Still, the infected plants were spread throughout both beds so I think it's safe to assume that the entire beds are infected. I spent 2 hours pulling plants and getting every bit of root I could find. I probably need to spend at least 2 more before I can solarize. Leah kept dipping her hands in the bleach and Adam kept getting his kite stuck in my fence, so it was slow going. TGIF and Dave can watch the kids tomorrow while I finish disaster control. Since it is two beds, I am guessing it came in on infected bag compost. I knew I hated that crap they sell at Home Depot, it is always chunky and never seems finished. This year, in my new beds, I started to use Back to Nature and better compost that I found at garden centers (to supplement my own very meager supply). Now here is the bad news. My raised beds are 6" tall, and I dug through that dirt and another several inches down. The soil underneath is actually now pretty good and loamy. I guess all the compost and mulch I added worked its way down to improve the soil below. In this case, a very mixed blessing. I did a couple of test digs around the roots of plants in other beds, and so far they seem okay. So all in all I lost two sixteen square foot beds. I have a total of just over 250 square feet in raised beds, so I lost about 13% of my raised bed gardening space. Not horrible, but it still makes me very sad. Now I wish I had purchased a couple of those Earth Boxes when they were sale. This year between people stealing my peaches, racoons stealing my nectarines, losing pumpkin and squashes to SVB and squash bugs, and losing 8 tomato plants plus countless herbs, beans, and flowers, I feel like I've lost about 1/3 of my useful harvest. Oh, and Dave hit one of my little apple trees with the lawn mower and knocked off the three beautiful apples that were growing on it. LOL. Still, we have had many delicious things from my garden. It's a good thing I am ornery and stubborn. No microscopic worm is going to get the best of me. This means war. Jo

Here's a picture (not mine--it's from the internet but this is what's out there. I will try to get a picture from my garden later). They are just underneath the surface and go down a few inches. If I dig them up they burrow back underneath the ground. From what I read they are beetle larvae, and it seems like they usually ruin lawns by eating the roots. I am guessing these things are all over my yard, and they are what killed off the grass that once existed in my backyard (when we moved in it was already just weeds and dirt, but I do know there was once sod, maybe 6 or 7 years ago). Now they are in my garden bed eating all the plant roots. I wish they could just eat the roots of weeds in my yard! Thanks to everyone for responding! I hope the picture helps if anyone has experience with these. I'm thinking since my entire yard is infested I might have to just spray the entire area with pesticides and start again next year. I'm wondering if anyone agrees that's the best option? I know a picture of the actual infestation might help so you can see how prolific these grubs are. I will get one later. Thanks again for any input.

If you dig the rose up and the roots do not have knots on them, then you should be ok. If you have knots on them you may need to cut them off. Once you go to put them in a new pot you will need to make sure that it has plenty of organic material in it. Nematodes hate the organic stuff. They prefer sand..... So when you originally planted the roses if you had put in lotss of good organics you may not have nematodes. Make sure when you have them in the pots that the pot does not touch the ground. It needs to be raised because the nematodes can travel from the ground to the pot which will defeat your purpose. On another note, I just posted that I am having a couple of my roses decline because I have this mat that is growing and choking out the roses. I really don't know what it is and haven't gotten any answers as of yet. Someone wanted me to post a picture, but I do not have a way to do that. I haven't seen anything like it before. It looks almost like roots but they are very very dense and not actually attached to any plant. I know that this mat thing was not there when I planted the rose there last fall. This mat thing is very aggressive. I think I am going to have to remove the bush in order to dig the mat out. Good Luck on your roses.

Okay, before I continue, Roseguy you MUST post some pics of your rose garden here. 1000 ROSES!?!?!?!?! Wow, and all in Florida. Please share. Rachel, based on what I know about the soil in Central Florida and what I know about the weather pattern up there, I would suggest you plan out what you want in detail and begin section by section. Never get rid of a rose. Let that thing die on its own before you toss it. I've had roses with dieback coming up and down the stem and seen it make it with some TLC, so never give up. Shoot, I have a Crescendo that I got bareroot from Breck's with massive crown gall that I know will eventually succumb but I can't get myself to give up completely! Here's what I'd do (for what's it's worth, lol): 1.) Plan out your yard. Use MS Publisher or get a cheap poster board and plot out where you want all your roses to go. Make sure to take into account the rose's habit as well as the color scheme that you're going for. With all that space you have, you can afford to space out your roses using the three foot rule. Also, make sure to place your roses in the sunniest spots of your land, no use putting them next to root greedy trees when they will already have a hard time establishing a good root system. 2.) Create beds for your roses. I have installed my beds using Castle Rock pavers. I purchase them a little every weekend and now I have great big beds that look good. Once the pavers are in place dig out the existing soil down one to two feet. The task is arduous, but if done in sections it will seem doable. Call C&C Peat or The Bushel Stop and have them deliver several yards of their potting soil to fill in your beds. 3.) Plant your roses one section at a time. Remember to cut them back a bit and to place the weaker/smaller bushes to the outer edges of your beds to give them plenty of room and sun to grow. 4.) Apply mulch and possibly ground cover to your beds. 5.) Get into the habit of mixing in fertilizer onto your roses. I like to create a tea using alfalfa pellets, fish emulsion, and seaweed extract. Occasionally, apply a water soluble fertilizer like miracle grow in cooler weather. Remember, during the June to August your job is to maintain your rose's existing leaves and not to grow it further, so fertilize during the cooler months. 6.) Develop a spray program that works for you. You have purchased quite an arsenal, but there's no point using something that is not needed. For Florida gardeners, the go-to chemicals are Banner Maxx/Honor Guard, Mancozeb, and Conserve SC. Cleary, Subdue Maxx, and Alliette are other great chemicals that can be applied between applications of the aforementioned spray program so your pests don't develop an immunity to any of the medicines. Spray every seven to fourteen days as needed. Spraying too frequently may actually hurt your plants. 7.) Come here for help. Years ago I found this site (then under a different incarnation that has undergone two major changes over the years) and I found the answers to questions I didn't even know to ask. Know that you are among friends that share you passion for roses. 8.) Understand that the past five months have been atypical. When the nursery that produces the roses I buy tell me that they have experienced the same problems that I have had due to difficult weather conditions, I relax at the thought that little ole me, with my limited resources, am not alone in the problems. With any luck, the recent weather pattern will usher new healthy growth and turn the tide that has brought so much hardship to our rose collections. Good luck! -Adrian.