View Single Post
Old February 14, 2010   #4
b54red
Tomatovillian™
 
b54red's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
Default

I had a terrible nematode problem years ago. I mucked out some horse stalls and put the fresh manure and tilled it in immediately without composting. Then started adding aged horse manure for the next few years and the nematodes have been well under control since then. I read somewhere many years ago that horse manure contains a type of mold that traps nematodes. I don't know if that's true but it had an amazing affect on my garden. I still get a few nematodes in cucumbers, squash and the occasional heirloom tomato; but not enough to stop them from having a very productive season.
My next door neighbor whose garden was literally a couple of feet from mine used that poison that has since been banned for two years and then had no nematodes for about a year. After that the nematodes totally took over his garden and after a few years the only thing that would live long enough to produce was hot peppers. He finally gave up gardening because of the nematodes. That was over 15 years ago.
From my own experience nematodes don't like onions, garlic, hot peppers, most bell peppers nor any herbs that I have grown. I try to rotate as much as possible; but with 80% of my garden in tomatoes I can't do too much. Even so I only had 3 or 4 tomatoes showing nematode damage last year out of around 65 plants. I always check the roots when pulling up my dead or dying plants.
This winter I added some fresh cow manure to some of my beds that had a little nematode activity to see if it also has the therapeutic properties of horse manure.
The easiest way to tell if you might have nematode activity that is damaging your plants is if they seem to be lacking water even after a good rainfall or watering. I have also noticed that plants plagued by nematodes usually have spider mite infestations.
b54red is offline   Reply With Quote