Although southeastern North Carolina had a good growing season last year, plant-parasitic nematodes continue to be a perennial problem, especially on cotton, peanuts and tobacco. Fortunately, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Agronomic Division offers a Nematode Assay Service to help growers cope with this problem. The nematode laboratory analyzes soil, identifies the kinds of nematodes present, estimates sizes of populations and suggests effective management strategies. Due to the prevalence of nematode problems in southeastern counties, growers benefit when they take samples annually. And samples for nematode assay can be easily collected in the fall along with regular soil samples.
Results are usually available within a few weeks of submitting the sample.
The 2000 season could have been better for some growers if they had been aware of nematode hazards in their fields before planting. Stubby root and sting nematodes are becoming more of a problem for corn producers. These nematodes tend to cause the most damage in sandy soils during cool wet springs. Cotton yields are threatened by reniform, Columbia lance, sting and root-knot nematodes. Growers traditionally use an insecticide and nematicide to combat this problem, but numbers of nematodes continue to grow.