Question
QUESTION: My neighbor and I have houses in California. Both properties border a private country club with a beautiful golf course.  The neighbor was discussing our lawns with their professional greens keeper recently.  The topic of "nematodes" came up and the greens keeper mentioned a new type of species that was imported and that they have suddenly found it in the club's golf course.  We are concerned this will spread to our grass as it is a type of worm that moves around.  The main symptom was wilted grass.  I find myself checking the lawn every morning and I am wondering if you have any experience with this and what we can do to repel it.  Any insight would be appreciated.

ANSWER: Please tell me a little more about the Nematode you refer to.  There are many.  I can tell you that Belonolaimus longicaudatus Rau, the 'Sting Nematode', is the worst Nematode pest found at Golf Courses in the state of Florida; the putting greens contain a high Sand content, something this Nematode thrives in.  rsvp

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER

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QUESTION: I actually thought this was just a stinging nematode but yes the name "Sting Nematode" did come up.  It seems to be imported and there are no natural controls so it spreads without anything stopping it.  I did not mention that I we are very anti-chemical and would not be interested in any chemical solution.  Do you think this is hopeless?  Are we just waiting for the other shoe to drop?

Answer
Everything you ever wanted to know about Sting Nematodes is spelled out and fully illustrated by the University of Florida Extension:

edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN395

Key point:  'Sting Nematodes require at least 80 percent Sand content in Soil to survive, so they are typically only found in Sandy Soil environments.'

As I mentioned earlier, these pests are NOTORIOUS for damage they do in putting greens.  For one thing, they're crazy about Bermudagrass, which covers a wide majority of the country's Warm Season Grass golf courses.  Even if a local Soil is NOT high in Sand, the altered Soil of Golf Greens supports them in style.  As they point out at U of Fla, 'Because putting greens are typically constructed with high Sand content they may harbor Sting Nematodes even when native Soils are not Sandy enough to support them.  Many golf course greens in central Texas are infested with Sting Nematodes even though the native Soil is heavy Clay that will not support the Nematodes.'

Should you be worried?

'On Turfgrasses, damage usually shows up in irregular patches.  Often, Sting Nematode damage to turf is accompanied by proliferation of Weeds such as Spurge, Sedge or Florida Pusley.'  The ONLY way to really know is to get your Soil tested for it.  Tell me where you live out there, and I'll give you the contact information.

Meantime, if you DO test positive -- or even if you don't -- here's some information that might calm your nerves.

Figure they are always doing research on Nematodes, and as awful as this particular pest is, it gets its share of attention.  One study was done at South Carolina's Clemson University not too long ago.  They noticed that many plants DO NOT get attacked by Sting Nematodes.  Root exudates are a new field of study, so they theorized that maybe these plants were repelling the Nematodes with root exudates -- chemicals excreted by the roots, into the Soil, that would turn them off.

The chemicals they obtained from Mustard Seeds (Brassica juncea 慞acific Gold?, Spotted Spurge (Chamaesyce maculata L Small) and Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherima Willd. 慒reedom Red?.

You can read 'Suppressing Sting Nematodes with Brassica sp., Poinsettia, and Spotted Spurge Extracts' in this June 2006 post of the Agronomy Journal:

agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/98/4/962

'Shoot portions of Poinsettia and Spurge provided 95 to 98 percent mortality,' they reported.  Mustard Seed provided 99.5 percent control. 'Brassica species Seed Meal, Poinsettia, and Spurge shoot extracts showed most promise as possible biocontrol agents of Sting Nematodes,' they said.  Best results were achieved when the Grass kept dry, i.e. it WAS NOT WATERED for a minimum of 4 days.