Just went to put my bareroot fig purchases on water, and as I was breaking down the figs...came across this one.

Lucky in a few ways: It was the first I pulled out, so it never came in contact with the others, and I got to clean up the debris beforehand.

I have it soaking in a separate sink right now that I never use for other plants.  I'm thinking about root-pruning it back to the stub.

Not overly upset about this.  But man...this is kickin' my butt that I got an RKN-infected plant, I live to grow heirloom tomatoes and peppers, and RKN is my worst freakin' nightmare.

Glad I question everything and really looked at each fig before carrying on.  I'm going to mail it back tomorrow and hope for the best.  I have another source for this one, but ... meh.

Curious, has anyone tried doing 1 part granulated limestone with 4 parts potting mix to help either counter, kill or stunt RKN? 

And btw, I'm not trying to drag anyone's name through the mud with this post.  I just think it's best that anyone and everyone is informed.  I'm sure this could happen to any grower, but ... it's serious enough of an infectious problem that ... I hope nobody thinks less of me for posting this.

Re-pot that fig tree in a extreme high organic mix to kill those RKNs. I was told by a very knowledgeable person on RKN that they can not survive in an high organic environment. Use cow, horse, chicken, sheep manure that has been thru it heats or well composted. It you try it this will be a excellent test for us the watch.
J.A.

Why dont you tell us who sold it to you so we can make an informed decision about purchasing from your source?

I wouldn't mess with that stuff, especially in the Southeast. I'm no expert, but everything I've seen suggests that it spreads easily and quickly once introduced to the soil, and that it's almost impossible to remove once present. There's lots of information on the internet. Here's a short publication from the University of Arizona:

http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/diseases/az1187

Jason, I'm sorry to hear you had a problem. Your findings made me go yank the five plants I got out of the pots and rinse the roots well for inspection again. Mine are all completely clear, thank God. I bought the Yellow Marseilles also, so that was the first one I checked( Since we re'cd them one day apart, thought they were probably growing in close proximity). WHEW!!! If they had come potted, I'd be more worried! I hope he's not recycling the growing medium and sanitizing pots! I don't think he's intentionally doing anything, but you're only as good as your help.

I'm not sure RKN's would flourish here(heavy clay black gumbo soil), but I don't want to introduce them either. I'm with you, I think everybody needs to know.

You can use a high organic mix with clay.  You can get generic cat litter wich is nothing but clay that is not fired.  I mix this into all my soils.  I think three bucks gets you twenty five pounds.

I am glad you contacted the nursery you got this plant from?  I bet my bottom dollar they will make it good. They need to know about this so they can correct the problem.
J.A.

Yup.  Repacked the bareroot plant with some damp paper shreds to keep the roots nice and moist.  Packed it securely in a Fedex box, filled it with packing peanuts for cold insulation and crush prevention, then shipped it back yesterday morning. 

Although I know that the nursery knows what RKN is and looks like, I left a big note on the outside of the box with some RKN information and spread prevention tips, then asked for a callback when the nursery confirms it was RKN so we can work something out.  I told them that if they have no clean Marseilles or Conadria left at the nursery (the two varieties I'm interested in right now), maybe I could just have a credit towards an RKN-free plant next year.  $10 credit is what it would boil down to because I owed the shipping to get the plants here ($11), but I paid for the infected plant ($15) + my return shipping ($7.50) ...  $22.50 out of my pocket, $11 out of theirs.  They can always re-root any cuttings from the plant and possibly recoup $45-60 next year on those roote cuttings.

I'm sure it'll all get worked out.  I'm not mad about it, I'm just still incredibly suspicious of the source, and as gorgi said earlier... I'll be treating the other three plants like they're radioactive material as well.  I cleared the roots of soil and repotted in my own (clean) soil, so ... should they bear signs, it's probably due to some trace I missed when cleaning, or something they aquired in the days prior to shipping.  In that case, I'll be hacking off the roots and trying to root the resuling cutting(s).

I unpotted my yellow marseilles that I recently got (from the same source) and washed off the roots.  Luckily, I cannot find anything that indicated rkn on mine, so unless it is just beginning I think mine is clear.  I will check it again carefully in the spring when it goes into a bigger pot. 


Lisa

I just received a refund check from the nursery for $3.90, then a followup check for return shipping of $7.50 when the plant arrived on return.  Clearly, this is as good as it can get, in my book.

I will add something else interesting.  My return package from FedEx arrived today, so somehow he found out about the fig having RKN prior to me shipping my fig back, I did not tell him.  I guess someone at one of the fig forums is sharing my experience with him, or maybe he's following up with results here on his own.