Nematode question
Frank Rogan
8 years ago
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Comments (17)
Frank Rogan
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Beneficial nematodes - use once OR twice a season
Comments (1)I would not bother with nematodes for cuke beetles. They come in with the air currents as the season warms up. Killing the overwintering ones is nice, but it's a drop in the ocean. I am in Wisconsin where very few overwinter sucessfully. We do have corn rootworm beetles that are often confused with cuke beetles, but the actual cuke beetles die in the winter here. Even so, this is the first year since I can remember where I had almost zero issue with them. I have had years where I would shake a plant and they would take flight in numbers great enough I almost cried. This is just from what migrates in annually. In the bad years there really isn't much you can do other than hope they don't damage plants too much or use a broad spectrum pesticide. They are a really, really challenging pest as they have few predators caring to eat them. Think of it this way. The entire state I live in has almost none that survive the winter. It's like the entire state used nematodes on every inch of ground. And it's still common for them to arrive in hoards....See MoreScientific nematode question,,,,
Comments (1)Jill, I don't think that this question has been answered scientifically. I do know, as you probably do, that nems can live in dead foliage. They actually live in a state of suspended animation in dead foliage and can reawaken later. That's why it's better to remove foliage of plants you know have nems in the fall. However, I do know that nems don't like heat. You can kill them by heat treating plants to 125* for about 10 minutes. So it's likely that burning leaves will eliminate them. I just don't know of any research that shows that. I dump the foliage from all of my Hosta out into the woods behind my house, far enough away from my gardens that I don't have to worry about disease or nems. That pile of vegetation will never be used as compost. If I didn't have that option, I'd put them in the trash. That's just me. YMMV. Steve...See MoreLiberty? Nemetodes in Majesty!
Comments (5)I would really like to keep this Majesty Hosta (and all the other ones too)what should I do? I have read to put the leaves in 124 degree water but for how long? and do I put the roots and all in? Do you think the entire lot is infected? I have no magnifier glass to check for the worms-so what is my best bet? Is there even a slight though very, very, teeny, weeny, tiny, slight possibility that it MAY NOT be nematodes? (I know the dumbest question ever- The seller I bought it from said she checked out her mother plant and she didn't see anything. and I really don't want to get rid of this plant)...See MoreNematode questions
Comments (6)Paula, The issues you'd have in soil that had sat underneath a burn pile likely would be lower levels of microbial activity which could indirectly affect the nematode populaton but since you added lots of cow manure, the manure should have cancelled out the burn pile, so to speak. With sandy soil, the nematodes are just there in the soil. It isn't a city or rural issue, just a matter of what type of soil you have. One of two good things about clay soil (the other is a high fertility level because of high mineral content) is that it is too thick and dense for nematodes to move around. In sandy soil, they move at will, which is the problem. This is why, as much as I really and truly hate my dense clay, we did deliberately look for clay soil because it is the lesser of the two evils. Nematodes feed on plant roots. The more plants you put in the soil for them to feed on, the worse they get. If you keep putting roots in that soil year after year, the nematode population eventually grows to unmanageable levels. Once the levels are that high, you can see a lot of plant death. Right now, your nematode levels likely are very low because you haven't cropped repeatedly in that area, but each year they'll get worse. Still, even with low levels you can see plants wilting even when moist because they have root damage or you can see lower productivity and lower disease resistance. Some plants are more or less immune to nematodes, including grass (like corn!) and Elbon cereal rye. I think carrots and lettuce also are resistant. So, one way to combat them is to plant tomatoes in one area one year and then, the second year, replace the tomatoes in that location with carrots, lettuce, corn, etc. Practicing crop rotation like that can help keep nematode levels manageable. The second technique is to plant Elbon cereal rye in the soil every chance you get. The nematodes get trapped in the rye roots and die! Some people with a real nematode problem use Elbon cereal rye as a part of their regular annual crop rotation even though they'd rather have producing crops in the rye area. The third technique is to add all the organic matter you can to the soil, and the more you add the better, and the more deeply you add it, the better. For most sandy soils, if you can add a layer of organic matter 8-12" tall to the soil, that is enough to really make nematode activity slow down drastically. Since you can't till in 8" of stuff at once (nor 12"), this usually means adding several inches and tilling it in and then doing the same over and over again. When fighting nematodes it is virtually impossible to add too much organic matter to your soil. Organic matter translate into more biologically active soil and that translate into fewer nematodes. Adding ordinary granulated sugar or dry molasses to the soil helps in the same way because it stimulates microbial activity. Fourth, when planting tomatoes and other crops that are known to be highly susceptible to nematodes, choose nematode-resistant varieties. Normally these are indicated by the "N" after their name....like if Better Boy is VFN, that "N" means resistant to nematodes. Unfortunately, no tomatoes are immune but some of the resistant ones are strongly resistant. Fifth, add chitosan to the most important areas of your garden if you can. You can google and read about it. I've never seen it offered locally and it may be too expensive. Otherwise, if you can get shells from any shellfish and compost them in your compost pile, they have the same effect. Sixth, apply beneficial nematodes to your soil at the right time and when temperatures are in the right range. The beneficial nematodes are Mother Nature's way of controlling nematodes. Seventh, practice excellent garden sanitation, taking care to remove all nematode-infected roots. Doing all these things together will help. You could move from one garden plot to another every year, but that makes permanent fencing to keep the in-laws...ooops, the deer and rabbits....not the in-laws....out of the garden very hard to manage. Since our place is 99% clay, I take clay dug from the ground and piled up for me by a guy with a dozer, and add the clay to my lone band of sandy soil. The more clay I add, the better the sand gets....but you have to add oodles and oodles of very dense clay while also adding tons of organic matter. Nematodes can exist in clay soil that has a high sand content. I don't envy you having to deal with the nematodes. I do want to emphasize again that bark mulch/tree trimmings incorporated into the soil is the best solution and doesn't give you nematodes. If I had pure sand, I'd double dig and put all the mulch and compost and such that I could down in the lower level (because I'd only intend to double dig once!) of the soil. Then, I'd improve the upper layer as previously discussed here. And, another thing about adding pine bark fines and shredded hardwood mulch: they say only add small pieces and not large ones because large ones tie up too much nitrogen as they break down. I totally and completely ignore that and add all the big chunks of wood I can to my beds to break up the clay. If the big chunks of wood are tying up nitrogen (and I cannot tell they do), I can always add nitrogen and it isn't a big deal. I think I can do this without negative consequences in our climate because of our extreme heat--it makes everything, including those chunks of wood, break down relatively quickly. Hope this helps. Dawn...See Morelmontestella
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoFrank Rogan
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoGot a photo of the "bugs". One for size referrence and a close-up. Like I said in my original post, I've had house plants for years and never had a problem. About two months ago I bought a Peace Lilly, and shortly after that I started seeing the gnats. I never saw these bugs until I gave my plants the first dose of nematodes. Now I'm plagued with these things! From what I read, nematodes are very small worms, I don't know how I got these from the nematode treatment!
Frank Rogan
8 years agoFrank Rogan
8 years ago
Mentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoFrank Rogan thanked Mentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)Frank Rogan
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoMentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years ago
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