Dorothy,

I don't know of anything that can be done while the plastic has the soil covered. I would think about adding a lot of organic matter later, and maybe planting something back that does not support nematodes very well for a year or two. I had some nematodes this year and I tried to cook them with charcoal. I have never tried that before, nor have I ever heard of anyone doing that. I have lettuce growing in that spot now and it seems to be doing well.
I guess that only time will tell.

I plan on planting Elbon Rye after the lettuce is gone, corn will follow the rye.

Solarize the soil for a couple months

Actinovate is said to help, but it is pricey.

Chitin is supposed to help, but it is also pricey.

Plant a cover crop of Elbon Rye and till it under in the fall. Elbon roots act as a trap crop.

Plant non-suseptible plants for a couple of years.

Amend the soil heavily with plenty or organic matter.

Add some sugar or dried molasesses to speed up microbial growht

Grow tomatoes in containers. Raise them up on bricks so nematodes can't work their way from the infested soil and migrate up into your containers.

Nematodes are the bane of my existance, and I have spent months researching the best ways to combat them.

HTH
Jo

Which crops are non-susceptible? And where purchase elbon rye?

Elbon Rye..Call local feed stores. Farmer's Feed in Sapulpa sold me a giant bag for well under $20...it was around $13 if my memory serves. Enough for several years in my garden. I did have to call many places before I found any that carried or would order it.

Google non-host crops and nematodes. IIRC it's mainly grains and corn. There are some nematode resistant varieties of peppers (carolina wonder) tomatoes (nemared etc), and peas (wando peas). Herbs and strawberries do well in my garden despite the nematodes. Sunchokes are pretty and yummy. Okra does well. Onions are great.

Jo

Corn is non-susceptible, there are other crops also, but off the top of my head I cant thing of any.

Elbon rye can be purchased at about any feed and seed store. The price this year here had gone up to about $23.00 per 50#. If she does not need any more than 3 or 4 pounds I will send last years seed just for the price of postage. It is far cheaper to just buy a 50# bag if you can find a use for the excess.

This page lists nematode resistant varieties of popular veggies.

I believe that Nematode resistant just means that the galling and damage won't be as severe, and the plant will generally survive.

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-7529.pdf

The next step up from a resistant variety is a non-host plant. Nematodes won't feed on these at all, to the best of my knowledge. Corn and some grains are mentioned on various sites

The best crop is a trap crop or one that for whatever reason seems to be toxic to nematodes and reduce their population. Brocolli, Cauliflower, Elbon Rye, and French Marigolds are mentioned on various sites.

This site sells beneficial nematodes with the claim
"With just one application of Beneficial Sf Nematodes, you can achieve 100% control of root-knot nematodes". Sounds too good to be true, but I think I will give it a whirl next spring.

Jo

Here is a link that might be useful: Beneficial Nematodes

Chitin might be easier to find and also cheaper there on the west coast than it is here.

You can forget that stuff from Gardens Alive, I bought some of that last fall, sprayed it and planted the rye and still have the nematodes. Going to plant rye and then I just may leave my garden fallow next summer and try to solarize , it's supposed to be dry again so will save water that way. Oh they bother okra also, mine didn't do well at all and discovered that was the problem.

klo1, that's good to know about the beneficial nematodes not helping. You just saved me $25.

Most of my garden has been fallow all summer, so I am hoping I will see an improvement next year. I plan to plant a limited selection of things I know do well: more strawberries, more onions, more herbs.

I had planned on planting a lot more Okra, but since you mentioned it, I Googled and they are listed as one of the most susceptible crops. I only have four plants (LOL), but they are doing great. Every few days I go out and pick a few young pods, and eat them right there, raw. Delicious.

I was also planning on planting a second sunchoke bed, but in the last week or so all of my sunchokes have fallen over and seem to be dying. I had a mouse/vole problem in my garden, so it's possible that something was munching the roots, or also that the drought finally did them in. They never got as big as they did last year, and none of them flowered. Supposedly they do well even in RKN infested soil.

Jo

I'm not sure that Elbon Rye does a lot to rid soil of RKN but I bought a 50# bag of it today along with another scoop of mushroom compost. The worst infestation of RKN that I had was in my heaviest planting of Elbon rye, but it was also in plants that were given to me. I have also noticed that in the past that Nematodes seemed to be the worst in the soil that I tilled the least.

I may be all wet here but that is how it seemed.

Larry

I just came across this Clemson Extension article on RKN. I had not heard of the "till and cook" method. Jo, since you are taking a year off, this may be the answer to your dreams.

Here is a link that might be useful: RKN article from Clemson Extension

I just came in from working on an area I have RKN in. This is where my fall garden was planted and I am trying to get it ready for early spring ( Cole ) crops. It is only about 300 sq. ft., but I have been trying the till and freeze method. I would like for the weather to be a little colder. I tilled about a week or so ago when it was 24 degrees but the frost line was only a little over 1" down.

All the rest of my garden is planted in Elbon Rye but the deer are keeping it eaten down so low that I may not get much organic matter out of it. If the deer would keep my lawn eaten as low as they do my garden I would be happy to feed them grain all winter to get them to leave every thing else alone.

It looks like I may have to change my plan about planting corn in the north garden. According to the Clemson article corn is also susceptible to nematodes also.

Larry