nematode prevention in raised bed?

12 years ago

Hi,

Not sure if this post would be better suited for the Florida forum, but here goes :)

I live in Central Florida, but my first in ground veggie garden experience this year was depressing since the nematodes are so prevalent in our soil. I am building raised beds that I plan to line heavily with cardboard (several inches) to keep nematodes from penetrating from below. Since I need about 100 cubic feet of soil, I am looking at cost effective ingredients for filling the bed lasagna style.

Will compost from a city dump work? I know bad nematodes donÃ¯Â¿Â½t thrive in a rich medium like compost, but will I still be introducing some if I use city compost?

What about pine needles, dead leaves, and such from the yard?

Thanks for your help!

Best, Heather

Featured Answer

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

12 years ago

i was told.. there are millions on nems.. in a tablespoon of soil ... and the thought of eradicating.. the millions of types of nems was amusing.. so i smacked the guy ... then told him to get off my property ... lol.. not really ...

anyway ... what is your goal here.. there are actually more beneficial nems.. than bad ones... so i dont understand your insistence that they must all die ...

you give no facts of why you fell this need ... what if any damage happened??? ... and if there was no prior damage ... then proactively fighting a problem can be like tilting at windmills ....

i am sure i overstated in my choice of words.. have at it ... lol

ken

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Comments (6)

jean001a
12 years ago
And how can you be certain the imported soil will be free of nematodes?

Suggest you contact your county's Extension Service office for their recommendations. The folks there are very familiar with nematodes and their management in a reasonable manner.

Use the interactive map at the link below -

Here is a link that might be useful: locate your county's Extension Service office
Kimmsr
12 years ago
Some nematodes are beneficial, some are destructive. Solarizing the soil may be of some help. Crop rotation can help. Leaving the planting bed fallow can help. The
University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service people can be of much help with this.

Here is a link that might be useful: About nematodes
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Hham
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for the links. I will be contacting the extension offices to see what they recommend.

I do plan on rotating the 4 beds and using solarization if needed, but I don't want to kill the beneficials if I don't have to.

Jean, I don't know if the compost is free of nematodes, but was wondering if it's possible for compost to be infected since everything I've read, including stuff on the UF website, says adding a lot of compost to your garden to create a really rich medium can prevent bad nematode populations from thriving. However, I'm not sure if it's a risk I want to take...
Hham
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the comments, Ken. To answer your questions, I am moving into a new home in the same area, but haven't gardened in that specific location yet so I have no damage to report.

However, bad nematodes are an insanely prevalent in Florida, which makes it nearly impossible to grow anything but hybrids in the ground. This was confirmed to me by a relative who works for the Florida Dept of Ag and several people at my local nursery after my in ground garden did terrible this year--only a few hybrids produced. The nursery recommended growing in containers, which is why I am building raised beds. My relative recommended solarization and that may be my only option. I was hoping to avoid it because I have no desire to kill all nems (as you said).

You're right though...proactively fighting a problem is nuts :)
Kimmsr
12 years ago
This is what your University of Florida has to say about soil solarization. Some sources suggest using two plies of clear plastic instead of one and I saw nothing about that in the article.

Here is a link that might be useful: soil solarization