Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - I have RK nematodes-thinking of replacing soil in raised bed

b54red · January 24, 2013

I used to have nematodes so bad that only the hardiest hybrids would live long enough to produce and they would end up getting nematodes eventually. I can't remember who told me; but I was advised to put in as much fresh horse manure as I could and work it in. I did it a few months before planting and the nematode problem was reduced by at least 75%. I repeated that process the next year tilling it in well and giving it time to work and have had only the occasional tomato plant hit by them since then although I have only added composted manures since then. The biggest problem was mucking out horse stalls to get the fresh manure.

The nematodes that hit squash, cucumbers and okra must be different because I still had problems with them when my tomatoes were totally nematode free. For them I started by spreading sugar generously over the bed a week before planting and gently watering it in. I would then plant the Nemagone marigolds in between my plants and it seems to work. Last year I put down more sugar than ever before where I was planting my okra and then put a Nemagone on each side of every plant. That was the first year in over 35 years of growing okra that I didn't have any sign of nematodes when I eventually pulled the plants in the fall. I basically did the same with cucumbers and squash with equal success. Down here nematodes are so prevalent that pretty much all field grown tomatoes have to be nematode resistant to get a decent crop. I don't think what I did for my raised beds would be very practical for large scale planting; but it worked great for me.

January 24, 2013	#15
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I used to have nematodes so bad that only the hardiest hybrids would live long enough to produce and they would end up getting nematodes eventually. I can't remember who told me; but I was advised to put in as much fresh horse manure as I could and work it in. I did it a few months before planting and the nematode problem was reduced by at least 75%. I repeated that process the next year tilling it in well and giving it time to work and have had only the occasional tomato plant hit by them since then although I have only added composted manures since then. The biggest problem was mucking out horse stalls to get the fresh manure. The nematodes that hit squash, cucumbers and okra must be different because I still had problems with them when my tomatoes were totally nematode free. For them I started by spreading sugar generously over the bed a week before planting and gently watering it in. I would then plant the Nemagone marigolds in between my plants and it seems to work. Last year I put down more sugar than ever before where I was planting my okra and then put a Nemagone on each side of every plant. That was the first year in over 35 years of growing okra that I didn't have any sign of nematodes when I eventually pulled the plants in the fall. I basically did the same with cucumbers and squash with equal success. Down here nematodes are so prevalent that pretty much all field grown tomatoes have to be nematode resistant to get a decent crop. I don't think what I did for my raised beds would be very practical for large scale planting; but it worked great for me.