Just looking for confirmation it is root knot nematode. It’s all over my region so I’m not surprised. I’ve been trying to get plants that are resistant.
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Sure looks like RKN to me. Not surprising in Florida.
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Thank you. I’m not surprised, but it’s good to verify.
This is why I chunk about a 16 oz cup of diatomaceous earth in every 5 gallons of soil mix I make. We get nematodes in South Georgia.Not bullet proof, but crawling/soil bugs hate it.
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When first looking at the picture. For a second i thought of nitrogen fixating nodules. But the rest of the rootsystem doesn’t look like it’s from a legume.
And the “branching” nature of the infected root, sure look like RKN after reading up on it.
Luckily if not encountered it yet. But out of curiosity and preparation i read up on it a bit. Found lots of information on how to control for annual plants. But for treefruit i found very little information (except a few resistant rootstocks for prunus species)
Does anyone have any experience with RKN with treefruit? Do you destroy the tree? Or live with it?
I’m very happy with my nitrogen fixing groundcover below my tree’s. But since their a host of M. hapla i might have to rethink that if i ever encounter RKN.
my apologies if this is to much off topic. Not sure if i should start a new topic or add this here.
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Here they encourage fruit-feeding plant bugs and once trees are established, the N for fruit is absorbed in spring and fall while later season N supports vegetative growth, so they might do more harm than good in average to strong soils. I assume most legumes release more N in summer than when fruit trees tend to need it (fall and early spring), but I’d have to search that to know for sure. If they release more when soils are cool they might be a good match for fruit trees where plant bugs aren’t an issue.
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