When selecting your vegetable seed or transplants, purchase a variety that has nematode resistance. Rotate your vegetables within your garden from year to year to reduce not only nematode injury but also diseases. Try not to plant the same vegetable or related vegetables on the same land more often than every third year. No chemical controls for nematodes are available at this time for the home gardener. Soil solarization may be your only alternative in cases where nematode populations are extremely high.
Soil solarization is a method that employs a transparent polyethylene cover to trap heat.
Transparent polyethylene tarps are placed over the infested soil for a minimum of 100 days beginning in June. The sun then heats the soil to temperatures that kill many soil pests and brings favorable physical and chemical changes in the soil itself.