How do I Manage Soil-borne Diseases and Nematodes?

Nematode and disease management should be viewed as a year-round, programmatic activity requiring consideration of all cultural, chemical and agronomic practices. However, since no rescue treatment is available for strawberries during the growth stage, producers are encouraged to treat the field for nematodes at crop termination and prior to planting the next crop if there is heavy nematode pressure.

This is an ideal time to take soil samples to determine the agronomic problems with your strawberries. If it is determined that nematodes are at high levels, drip inject with Telone® EC soil fumigant at crop termination. This will kill the crop and the existing population of nematodes, reducing the numbers for the next crop. Prior to planting, use Telone to prepare a nearly nematode-free zone so newly-planted strawberry roots can thrive.

Controlling nematodes and managing diseases includes using Telone EC at crop termination, planting strawberries from certified growers and utilizing an effective crop rotation. Nematodes can also be controlled pre-plant by fumigating with Telone EC and InLine® soil fumigant and nematicide through drip irrigation, or with shank-applied Telone® soil fungicide and nematicides.

  • Certified Plants
    Strawberry certification programs offer some assurance to fruit producers that the plants purchased from certified growers are true to variety and free from damaging pests and serious diseases. Growers should ask for a certification tag on each cultivar of plants.

  • Rotation
    Crop rotation with a poor host or nonhost crop can be another effective method for reducing nematode and disease populations.

    Nematodes usually have a wide range of hosts and are seldom confined to a single plant species. Each species has recommended cover crops. For example, hairy indigo is a good cover crop for sting nematodes.

    Crop rotations developed for a given area may be of limited value in other locations because some local populations of nematodes respond differently to different hosts. In this case, small-scale field evaluations should come before broad-scale implementation of a specific crop rotation strategy.

  • Chemical Controls
    In commercial strawberry production, producers often include a liquid fumigant through drip irrigation. Inline, Telone EC and the Telone soil fumigant product portfolio helps control all major species of nematodes. 

    Effective use of soil fumigant for nematode control requires appropriate soil preparation and conditions prior to preplant treatment. Dow AgroSciences recommends beginning field preparations 6 to 8 weeks ahead of planting so crop debris will be completely decayed. Since all fumigant must diffuse through soil as gases to be effective, the most efficient fumigations occur when the soil is well-drained, in seedbed condition and at a temperature warmer than 40 F. An appropriate planting delay of 1 to 3 weeks to aerate the soil must be observed to avoid crop injury.