Has anyone used beneficial Nematodes?

[BrownThumb65]

I am new to gardening and want to go "organic" I have a yard that has not been taken care of in many, many, years by previous tenants.

I just planted 4 Wax Myrtle shrubs and upon digging I found we are infested with beetle grubs (YUCK!!!!) and also we have Mole Crickets!
They make my skin crawl!!!

I also have flea issues too!!

I have done a lot of reading on the beneficial nematodes and would like to know if anyone has used this product. I also visit another forum and was surprised to find that after 62 views of my post no one uses this stuff!!

Thanks!
Halime

[cynthia_h]

Many members here have used them. I just performed a Search of the site using the Search box on the upper left-hand corner of each page. I put the words "beneficial nematodes" (but without the quotation marks) in, and got 4 pages of hits. That's somewhere between 31 and 40 threads discussing beneficial nematodes!

So the answer is YES, definitely Helpful Gardeners have used them. Not me personally; I have no lawn or, to my knowledge, nematode problem (fingers crossed...).

And welcome to The Helpful Gardener, too!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[BrownThumb65]

Thank you for the tip!

[The Helpful Gardener]

'Todes aren't just for lawns anymore...

Stem borers in squash (inject them into the vine), black vine weevil (the best!)

And beetle grubs and mole crickets too.

Here's how to screw it up...

Call on a Thursday so the package gets held in an airport all weekend. Leave it on your counter for a day or two to get really warm. Dump it into chlorinated water that is either freezing or boiling, and then immediately apply it at high noon on the hottest day of the year, and don't water them in. They will die and fry and then the person who did all these things will tell you the nematodes didn't work for them

So do the opposite of everyting I told you there. Order early to ensure quick delivery, right in to the fridge but use them as quickly as possible. Mix with lukewarm water and apply at dusk or dawn, watering in preferably (they are very UV sensitive).

I was getting torn up by skunks (the sure fire sign of a bad infestation; everyone says "I have moles, so I must have grubs but all it means is you have worms. Skunks like grubs and can smell them like a pig smells truffles). I did a mixed treatment expensive, but certain 'tode have certain profiles. HB are hunter seekers that roam the soil, but SC are ambushers of the root zone. Sort of an anvil and hammer attack...

Have seen some this year in the beds, but with an organic lawn with root depth over a foot (can't do that with chemicals), they really aren't much of an issue anymore. But nematodes will whack them if they do act up...

HG

[Charlie MV]

Well now I'm really confused. I've read a couple of grub posts where Opabinia said leave them alone. I have grubs in my compost and I think in my yard and garden. They're white, about 3/8" thick and roll up about the size of a quarter. When I lay the compost and turn on the water, 8 or 10 species of birds go nuts on it. That's the way Opabenia suggested to handle them and that they really wouldn't do much if any harm in the garden.

I also see evidence of moles. I leave the moles and grubs alone. Should I turn loose the nematodes or leave the grubs be?


Something did kill some of my winter rye and subsequently some of the bermuda in the lawn. Nobody seems to know if grubs killeed the grass or a fungus got it. I'm getting soil tests for the lawn but do I need to worry about grubs killing my veges?

[BrownThumb65]

Thnaks Scott Reil ! You are funny!

[buddy110]

Have seen some this year in the beds, but with an organic lawn with root depth over a foot (can't do that with chemicals), they really aren't much of an issue anymore. But nematodes will whack them if they do act up...

HG

Grass root systems over a foot deep?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Yup.

Organic systems that are really cooking for years can get grass roots to depths of three and four feet for ryes, even more for some of the big prairie grasses. Chemical culture kills the biology that allows that to happen; the fungal net that helps support roots and open soils and the bacteria and protozoa tha consume detritus and each other and naturally release nitrogen.

The cover of this [url=https://www.amazon.com/compost-tea-brewing-manual/dp/B0006S6JVK]wonderful book by Elaine Ingham[/url](many of you have heard me sing the praises of Dr. Ingham) is a picture of her friend Hendrikus holdind a piece of perennial rye grass with the roots washed, grown in six months in organic compost. The plant has developed nearly four feet of roots... what grub can hurt this? What drought can touch it?

Organics is a far superior growing system in that it actually addresses the plant in a manner that the plant is used to. Chemicals are easy for us, but harder and harder for plants the more you use them. And NO environmental damage with organics!

HG