Project Number: 6618-22000-036-06
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 30, 2006
End Date: Jul 31, 2011

Objective:
To assess the benefits of new products and integrating practices such as soil solarization, cover crops, and resistant cultivars for effective control of root-knot and other plant parasite nematodes and soilborne pests in ornamental production systems. As resources permit, research will be conducted on novel approaches to manipulating soil environments common to ornamental production systems so that they are suppressive to root-knot nematodes and other pests, yet encouraging or neutral to ornamentals and non-target plants.

Approach:
Field research will be conducted in a commercial grower's site in southeastern Florida. Treatments will include standard grower practices as well as alternative practices that are compatible with current production systems, such as cover crops, solarization, and low-impact nematicides. Since these treatments are conducted prior to planting, and may require several months in the case of cover crops, soil samples to evaluate nematode populations will be collected from all treatment plots at the beginning and conclusion of the treatment period. Plots will then be planted with susceptible ornamentals, and additional soil samples for nematode evaluation will be collected at planting and harvest of the ornamental crop. At harvest, several plants per plot will be removed and rated for galling by root-knot nematodes.