Have you ever had a plant in your garden suddenly start to decline, then die? Then when you pull up the plant it’s roots are gnarled and bumpy. You are probably dealing with root knot nematodes.
Nematodes are a tiny worm like creature that can do incredible damage, and are prevalent here in Florida. Fortunately, there are ways to limit the damage they can do.
The first line of defense is solarization. Several weeks before planting your garden cover the dirt with plastic, weigh it down and leave it. The sun will kill the nematodes off, but the beneficial worms will just dig deeper and return when you remove the plastic. In colder climates this has the added benefit of warming the soil and quick starting seed germination.
There is quite a debate on whether to use black plastic or clear plastic. I use a dark colored tarp that I can use to cover other things in case of a tropical storm. I’m not sure that the color even matters, so use what you have at hand.
There are two other methods that I use to control nematodes and I will cover them in future posts.
God bless,
Pam
No comments:
Post a Comment