Quote:
Originally Posted by pjj2ba
Nematodes could be a problem. It is probably not well documented as only a silly fool would grow them that far south. Many problematic nematodes can't take the cold of further North so scientist porbably haven't checked for it. Plant some mustard NOW in the spot you are planning to put the hops in. Chop down the mustard before it sets seed and bury it right there. Plant your rhizomes. Mustard shoots contain compound that have been shown in field trials (real published data in scientific journals) to do a pretty darn good job of detering nematodes. The shoots must be turned into the soil for this to work. I'm not sure if the benefits would last any more than a year. Now for subsequent years I don't know. This is fairly recent results (not my area) so there's a lot to learn still. Now I wonder if one could take some prepared yellow mustard, add it to water and water with it and get the benefit. This is not something a commercial farmer would do, so this will probably be left to the the small grower/gardener to explore.
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Thank you SO much for posting this.
We have a desperate war raging with nematodes in our 2 vegetable gardens. The areas were almost pure sand when we started maybe 3 years ago. I have amended heavily with clay, muck, and compost. I have solarized for 30 plus days in late spring, added cottonseed meal, planted marigolds, cursed at them, hired a witch doctor to put a hex on 'em, and still the little *******s damage our plants.
I am going to give this mustard plant idea a serious try. What considerations should I keep in mind to grow these plants?
PS: To stay slightly on topic, I have entertained the idea of growing hops, and if nematodes are a problem for these plants, I would have to do a lot of work to combat them.
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