Maricopa County Cooperative Extension Home Horticulture:
Environmentally Responsible
Gardening & Landscaping in the Low Desert
Root Knot Nematodes in the Low Desert

DESCRIPTION:
DAMAGE:
Affected plants display general signs of water stress and nutrient deficiencies
(stunting, poor flower and fruit set, wilt) and have characteristic root galls,
or clubbing. Symptoms are the result of nematodes feeding on roots by sucking
out the contents of cells. They seldom kill their host. Root Knot Nematodes
affect 2000+ plant species, are active in warm months, and can survive in
the soil without a host for years.
MANAGEMENT:
Eradication is virtually impossible. Plant resistant varieties, rotate annual crops, and leave infested areas fallow and solarize over the summer. Nematodes move slowly through the soil, and may be moved to a new location with a transplanted plant or by
garden tools.

To Gardening and Landscaping in Maricopa County, AZ
Root Knot Nematodes in the Low Desert

visitors since June 9, 1998
Last Updated August 19, 2004
© 1997 The University of Arizona, College
of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension,
in Maricopa County. Comments to maricopa-hort@cals.arizona.edu
4341 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85040, (602) 470-8086
http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/t-tips/bugs/root-knt.htm