Nematodes in Florida (and other) Soil (No Vapam) (long)
 

Jim,

Root Knot Nematodes are a serious problem for us here in Florida. The soil
never freezes so the little buggers just keep on producing.

These microscopic "eels" get into the roots of plants and form "galls" or
"knots" that strangle the host plant. Nematodes mostly effect fruiting
vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. (For tomatoes, plant "VFN"
resistant varieties.) Nematodes can also be a problem for cukes but it does
not sound like that's your problem. Nematodes are disasterous to citrus!
Please be careful about carrying contamination on tools on in soil to any
orange trees.

As RogerX suggested, examine the roots of the plants you pull up for tiny
knots. If you do find an abundance of knots, destroy infected rootstock, DO
NOT COMPOST! Be careful about spreading them, wash your tools.

There are several things you can do to contol nematode infestation:

You can no longer use Vapam but you can solarize the soil for a couple of
months, that helps.

You can try to flood them out. I have actually dug up infected beds and soaked
the soil in 55 gal drums.

Add LOTS of organic material. There is some fungus found in compost that
chokes the nematode. That fungus thrives in composted pine needles and, get
this, crustacion shells like shrimp or crabs.

Add the product, "Nemagone." It's expensive and it is made from ground-up crab
shells. "Chitten" (Or something like that.)

Add Sugar. That's a weird one from a Rodale book. Be sure to water the sugar
thru prior to planting.

Plant Mexican Marigolds. They repell nematodes and other pest.

Water with Asparagus liquor. Yep, save the water when you cook asparagus and
dump it on the plants.


Good luck,

Ed Upshaw







2)

On 11/29/04 7:38 PM, in article
, "EDUPSHAW"
wrote:

Jim,

Root Knot Nematodes are a serious problem for us here in Florida. The soil
never freezes so the little buggers just keep on producing.

These microscopic "eels" get into the roots of plants and form "galls" or
"knots" that strangle the host plant. Nematodes mostly effect fruiting
vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. (For tomatoes, plant "VFN"
resistant varieties.) Nematodes can also be a problem for cukes but it does
not sound like that's your problem. Nematodes are disasterous to citrus!
Please be careful about carrying contamination on tools on in soil to any
orange trees.

As RogerX suggested, examine the roots of the plants you pull up for tiny
knots. If you do find an abundance of knots, destroy infected rootstock, DO
NOT COMPOST! Be careful about spreading them, wash your tools.

There are several things you can do to contol nematode infestation:

You can no longer use Vapam but you can solarize the soil for a couple of
months, that helps.

You can try to flood them out. I have actually dug up infected beds and
soaked
the soil in 55 gal drums.

Add LOTS of organic material. There is some fungus found in compost that
chokes the nematode. That fungus thrives in composted pine needles and, get
this, crustacion shells like shrimp or crabs.

Add the product, "Nemagone." It's expensive and it is made from ground-up
crab
shells. "Chitten" (Or something like that.)

Add Sugar. That's a weird one from a Rodale book. Be sure to water the sugar
thru prior to planting.

Plant Mexican Marigolds. They repell nematodes and other pest.

Water with Asparagus liquor. Yep, save the water when you cook asparagus and
dump it on the plants.


Good luck,

Ed Upshaw
Are you telling me that I can no longer put my 'juice', from asparagus,
being steamed, into my soup? (rhetorical question!). :)
I have heard that there are 'good' nematodes. If that is true how do we kill
the bad ones only? Compost? I heard that adding lots of compost works
wonders. I heard that the 'good' nematodes will actually eat the 'bad'
nematodes. Is that right? And if so how do you know?
Gary
Fort Langley, BC
Canada

On 11/29/04 7:38 PM, in article
, "EDUPSHAW"
wrote:

Jim,

Root Knot Nematodes are a serious problem for us here in Florida. The soil
never freezes so the little buggers just keep on producing.

These microscopic "eels" get into the roots of plants and form "galls" or
"knots" that strangle the host plant. Nematodes mostly effect fruiting
vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. (For tomatoes, plant "VFN"
resistant varieties.) Nematodes can also be a problem for cukes but it does
not sound like that's your problem. Nematodes are disasterous to citrus!
Please be careful about carrying contamination on tools on in soil to any
orange trees.

As RogerX suggested, examine the roots of the plants you pull up for tiny
knots. If you do find an abundance of knots, destroy infected rootstock, DO
NOT COMPOST! Be careful about spreading them, wash your tools.

There are several things you can do to contol nematode infestation:

You can no longer use Vapam but you can solarize the soil for a couple of
months, that helps.

You can try to flood them out. I have actually dug up infected beds and
soaked
the soil in 55 gal drums.

Add LOTS of organic material. There is some fungus found in compost that
chokes the nematode. That fungus thrives in composted pine needles and, get
this, crustacion shells like shrimp or crabs.

Add the product, "Nemagone." It's expensive and it is made from ground-up
crab
shells. "Chitten" (Or something like that.)

Add Sugar. That's a weird one from a Rodale book. Be sure to water the sugar
thru prior to planting.

Plant Mexican Marigolds. They repell nematodes and other pest.

Water with Asparagus liquor. Yep, save the water when you cook asparagus and
dump it on the plants.


Good luck,

Ed Upshaw
Are you telling me that I can no longer put my 'juice', from asparagus,
being steamed, into my soup? (rhetorical question!). :)
I have heard that there are 'good' nematodes. If that is true how do we kill
the bad ones only? Compost? I heard that adding lots of compost works
wonders. I heard that the 'good' nematodes will actually eat the 'bad'
nematodes. Is that right? And if so how do you know?
Gary
Fort Langley, BC
Canada

On 11/29/04 7:38 PM, in article
, "EDUPSHAW"
wrote:

Jim,

Root Knot Nematodes are a serious problem for us here in Florida. The soil
never freezes so the little buggers just keep on producing.

These microscopic "eels" get into the roots of plants and form "galls" or
"knots" that strangle the host plant. Nematodes mostly effect fruiting
vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. (For tomatoes, plant "VFN"
resistant varieties.) Nematodes can also be a problem for cukes but it does
not sound like that's your problem. Nematodes are disasterous to citrus!
Please be careful about carrying contamination on tools on in soil to any
orange trees.

As RogerX suggested, examine the roots of the plants you pull up for tiny
knots. If you do find an abundance of knots, destroy infected rootstock, DO
NOT COMPOST! Be careful about spreading them, wash your tools.

There are several things you can do to contol nematode infestation:

You can no longer use Vapam but you can solarize the soil for a couple of
months, that helps.

You can try to flood them out. I have actually dug up infected beds and
soaked
the soil in 55 gal drums.

Add LOTS of organic material. There is some fungus found in compost that
chokes the nematode. That fungus thrives in composted pine needles and, get
this, crustacion shells like shrimp or crabs.

Add the product, "Nemagone." It's expensive and it is made from ground-up
crab
shells. "Chitten" (Or something like that.)

Add Sugar. That's a weird one from a Rodale book. Be sure to water the sugar
thru prior to planting.

Plant Mexican Marigolds. They repell nematodes and other pest.

Water with Asparagus liquor. Yep, save the water when you cook asparagus and
dump it on the plants.


Good luck,

Ed Upshaw
Are you telling me that I can no longer put my 'juice', from asparagus,
being steamed, into my soup? (rhetorical question!). :)
I have heard that there are 'good' nematodes. If that is true how do we kill
the bad ones only? Compost? I heard that adding lots of compost works
wonders. I heard that the 'good' nematodes will actually eat the 'bad'
nematodes. Is that right? And if so how do you know?
Gary
Fort Langley, BC
Canada

"EDUPSHAW" wrote:
There is some fungus found in compost that chokes the
nematode. That fungus thrives in composted pine needles
and, get this, crustacion shells like shrimp or crabs.

Blue crabs and lobster? I guess the fungess is dead after
cooking, heh? That kind of screws that idea up. Can still
be used as compost material though, heh?

I see the suggestion about heavy mulching. I didn't attribute
the mulching to helping with nematodes, but I'm exploring
and what do I find from the University of Florida...
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MG214

From that page:
"Heavy organic mulches lessen nematode damage."

Just throwing that in because you didn't explicitly mention
that the mulch helps lessen nematode problems. There seems
to be other places mentioning a "rich mulch" indicating healthy
soil is one of the best ways to stop a nematode infestation.

The marigolds sound promising. I'll have to find some.

One particular website mentions 2kg of sugar to a bucket
of water and drench the soil.

But anyways, I'm going to forget about the nematodes
for the moment. I don't see any nematode damage.

The marigolds sound like a great idea. Not only for
nematodes, but for other things like possibly the white
flies.

I need to find some marigolds. Good stuff here. Thanks!

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to newsgroup.

"EDUPSHAW" also wrote:
Jim,

Add LOTS of organic material.

Add Sugar. That's a weird one from a Rodale book.
Be sure to water the sugar thru prior to planting.

Plant Mexican Marigolds. They repell nematodes and
other pest.

Water with Asparagus liquor. Yep, save the water when
you cook asparagus and dump it on the plants.

Good luck,

Ed Upshaw

"EDUPSHAW" wrote:
There is some fungus found in compost that chokes the
nematode. That fungus thrives in composted pine needles
and, get this, crustacion shells like shrimp or crabs.

Blue crabs and lobster? I guess the fungess is dead after
cooking, heh? That kind of screws that idea up. Can still
be used as compost material though, heh?

I see the suggestion about heavy mulching. I didn't attribute
the mulching to helping with nematodes, but I'm exploring
and what do I find from the University of Florida...
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MG214

From that page:
"Heavy organic mulches lessen nematode damage."

Just throwing that in because you didn't explicitly mention
that the mulch helps lessen nematode problems. There seems
to be other places mentioning a "rich mulch" indicating healthy
soil is one of the best ways to stop a nematode infestation.

The marigolds sound promising. I'll have to find some.

One particular website mentions 2kg of sugar to a bucket
of water and drench the soil.

But anyways, I'm going to forget about the nematodes
for the moment. I don't see any nematode damage.

The marigolds sound like a great idea. Not only for
nematodes, but for other things like possibly the white
flies.

I need to find some marigolds. Good stuff here. Thanks!

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to newsgroup.

"EDUPSHAW" also wrote:
Jim,

Add LOTS of organic material.

Add Sugar. That's a weird one from a Rodale book.
Be sure to water the sugar thru prior to planting.

Plant Mexican Marigolds. They repell nematodes and
other pest.

Water with Asparagus liquor. Yep, save the water when
you cook asparagus and dump it on the plants.

Good luck,

Ed Upshaw

I don't remember where, but I heard or read where burying some egg shells
around the roots of your nematode bothered plants, will encourage something
else to come around because they like to be around egg shells (to eat I
presume) and when they get there they find and eat the nematode eggs
instead. Kind of like preferring steak to liver. I tried it even though I
had never seemed to have any problems before, and it didn't cause me any new
problems.

It wont cost any thing to try it as long as you do it during planting, it
wont take much extra time. Let us know.

Dwayne

"EDUPSHAW" wrote in message
...
Jim,

Root Knot Nematodes are a serious problem for us here in Florida. The
soil
never freezes so the little buggers just keep on producing.

These microscopic "eels" get into the roots of plants and form "galls" or
"knots" that strangle the host plant. Nematodes mostly effect fruiting
vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. (For tomatoes, plant
"VFN"
resistant varieties.) Nematodes can also be a problem for cukes but it
does
not sound like that's your problem. Nematodes are disasterous to citrus!
Please be careful about carrying contamination on tools on in soil to any
orange trees.

As RogerX suggested, examine the roots of the plants you pull up for tiny
knots. If you do find an abundance of knots, destroy infected rootstock,
DO
NOT COMPOST! Be careful about spreading them, wash your tools.

There are several things you can do to contol nematode infestation:

You can no longer use Vapam but you can solarize the soil for a couple of
months, that helps.

You can try to flood them out. I have actually dug up infected beds and
soaked
the soil in 55 gal drums.

Add LOTS of organic material. There is some fungus found in compost that
chokes the nematode. That fungus thrives in composted pine needles and,
get
this, crustacion shells like shrimp or crabs.

Add the product, "Nemagone." It's expensive and it is made from ground-up
crab
shells. "Chitten" (Or something like that.)

Add Sugar. That's a weird one from a Rodale book. Be sure to water the
sugar
thru prior to planting.

Plant Mexican Marigolds. They repell nematodes and other pest.

Water with Asparagus liquor. Yep, save the water when you cook asparagus
and
dump it on the plants.


Good luck,

Ed Upshaw







2)

Eggshells? Reminds me of an adventure...

I once added eggshells to a garden. The work very well. Fresh shells leach
out watersoluable nitrogen. (Rodale says their composition is 1.19, 0.38,
0.14.) I think that they help buffer the pH, disolving only when the organics
make the soil sour. They obviously add calcium. They also areate the soil.
All in all, they are very beneficial, IN MODERATION lol.

I once had a half-acre under cultivation next-door to my mother-in-laws. She
went away for a week and I contacted a local egg processor about getting some
of his shells. The next day a GARBAGE TRUCK shows up, 10 TONS of fresh
eggshells dumped in my mother-in law's backyard! 10 tons of fresh eggshells in
the hot Florida sun... I had to skip work for three days and run the ol'
Troy-built from sun-up to sun-down. Made a great garden.

Ed

Here is a quote from a nematode control link
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/nematode.html#Managing

Most nematode species can be significantly reduced by tilling in chitinous
materials such as crushed shells of crustaceans (shrimp, crab, etc.). This is
effective because several species of fungi that "feed" on chitin also attack
chitin-containing nematode eggs and nematodes. Increasing the amount of chitin
in the soil will also increase the population of these fungi. A
shrimp-shell-based fertilizer called Eco Poly 21â„¢ Micro shrimp fertilizer is
available from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply (13). At 2002 catalog prices, it
would cost between $87 and $216 to treat an acre with this product (the
suggested application rate is 20 to 50 lbs. per acre). Clandosanâ„¢, a
nematicide made of crab shells and agricultural-grade urea, can be used as a
pre-plant treatment (it should not be used on plants because the amount of urea
in it can "burn" or kill them) (14).

I bet eggshells contain chitin-like material.

Ed

"Jim Carlock" writes:
The marigolds sound promising. I'll have to find some.

Once you have them, let some blooms develop their seed and you'll never
need to buy more seed. They set very viable seed, and it will come up
next year. It is easy to harvest and plant.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

In article ,
John Savage wrote:

"Jim Carlock" writes:
The marigolds sound promising. I'll have to find some.

Once you have them, let some blooms develop their seed and you'll never
need to buy more seed. They set very viable seed, and it will come up
next year. It is easy to harvest and plant.

Ah, so Mexican marigold is an annual?
--
K.

Sprout the MungBean to reply

"I don't like to commit myself about heaven and hell‹you
see, I have friends in both places." --Mark Twain

"Katra" wrote in message
...
In article ,
John Savage wrote:

"Jim Carlock" writes:
The marigolds sound promising. I'll have to find some.

Once you have them, let some blooms develop their seed and you'll never
need to buy more seed. They set very viable seed, and it will come up
next year. It is easy to harvest and plant.

Ah, so Mexican marigold is an annual?

Maybe we're not talking about the same marigold. My Mexican Mint Marigold is
perennial.

In article ,
"Tyler Hopper" wrote:

"Katra" wrote in message
...
In article ,
John Savage wrote:

"Jim Carlock" writes:
The marigolds sound promising. I'll have to find some.

Once you have them, let some blooms develop their seed and you'll never
need to buy more seed. They set very viable seed, and it will come up
next year. It is easy to harvest and plant.

Ah, so Mexican marigold is an annual?

Maybe we're not talking about the same marigold. My Mexican Mint Marigold is
perennial.



Looks like I need to do more research. ;-)
--
K.

Sprout the MungBean to reply

"I don't like to commit myself about heaven and hell‹you
see, I have friends in both places." --Mark Twain

I live in an area of Australia which is plagued by nematodes. For years I
have had very limited success in growing tomatoes. A local old-timer last
year told me to plant marigolds and to water around the plants with diluted
molasses (about 2 tablespoons per litre). I tried both last year and the
result was incredible. No nematode nodes, no wilt and doubling of crop.
Trouble is I don't know which worked - the molasses or the marigolds. As
stated by Jim Savage the marigolds popped up all over this year and all I
had to do was cull them. I used molasses again and although early in the
season the results look good.

Tony
"John Savage" wrote in message
om...
"Jim Carlock" writes:
The marigolds sound promising. I'll have to find some.

Once you have them, let some blooms develop their seed and you'll never
need to buy more seed. They set very viable seed, and it will come up
next year. It is easy to harvest and plant.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

"Tyler Hopper" writes:
Once you have them, let some blooms develop their seed and you'll never
need to buy more seed. They set very viable seed, and it will come up
next year. It is easy to harvest and plant.

Ah, so Mexican marigold is an annual?

Maybe we're not talking about the same marigold. My Mexican Mint Marigold is
perennial.

The minature marigolds I've grown are annuals and not that much different
from Stinking Rogers, in both looks and perfume. :-(
I don't know what a Mexican marigold is. Perhaps we don't have them here
in Australia. Tougher customs, maybe?
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)