Hello!

In my courtyard grow everywere fig seedlings. I have left to grow some, and last month i uprooted them for transplanting in my orchard for grafting good varieties or for caprification.
I found a seedling with many tubercles, that i have immediately eliminated.
The other seedlings were healty, so i didn't worry. I've put them in a jar, awaiting transplantation.
In this jar, water stagnated, but seedlings don't seem to suffer.
Today i removed these plants from the jar, and i immediately saw that that there were many white microscopic "bugs", and some tubercles on the roots.
I wonder what causes this disease. How appens the contagion?
I read that happens in dry soils, but in this case soil was drenched!
Also in this case i destroyed all, seedlings and soil. I'm afraid for my plants.
What are the sources of infection? There are things to do to prevent them?
 

I had an outbreak of RKN in my pots. I think the source in that case was an infected batch of compost. So moving infected soil around will spread them. I have also read that ants can spread them.

Nematodes are microscopic insects that live in the root system. They intercept the water and nutrients the plant takes up. The plant growth and health suffers as a result. I'm not sure if you would be able to see them without a microscope.

Nematicides are not available to home gardeners in Australia. So alternative methods are needed. I have read (and tried) many methods to try to get rid of them. Not with much success. I ended up destroying the infested plants after air layering.

Mustard powder is said to deter them. Molasses soil drench. The roots of certain plants like marigolds and mustard leaf.

Search this forum for more information and other peoples experiences.

Here are my notes from when I was trying to deal with them:

DOOR in Australian Wildflowers & Native Plants

Organic and Inorganic Nitrogen Amendments to Soil as Nematode Suppressants

Alternatives to nematicides in fruit and vegetable crops

Control of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne javanica) on tomato with molasses and other organic amendments

???

???

Nematicides (Chemical)

Thanks for the info Mic, very interesting.

Maybe the bugs that i've seen on the roots are mealybugs, not nematodes.

Fico. How,do you have fig seedlings? May be a dumb question. But ate they reproducing by seed. Which area do you live? Seedlings would be pretty cool.

No worries Fico. Actually, I did a quick search, and there are a lot of information on this forum about the nematodes. Also hydrogen peroxide might be a possible help

http://www.plantprotection.pl/PDF/48%282%29/JPPR_48%282%29_05_Karajeh.pdf

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/search?searchid=37453089

Meally bugs aren't usually found on the roots.

If you have galls on the roots then it is likely to be RKN. Your picture doesn't show enough detail to see if they look typical. In my experience they look like little balls along the root. I've not seen them look like long tubers. Do you see any other symptoms? Is the plant growth stunted?

The little insects you are seeing may be unrelated.

Hi fico,
If the seedlings were in ground, then this insects are already in the dirt ... natively .
So I don't see the point in destroying your small trees.
During winter, lots of insects will overwinter at the base of trees or near their roots.
That is the reason why the damn moles go foraging at the feet of our trees.

First, try to identify exactly what you have. Do you have better pics ? I cant' see anything in that small one .
I would be really surprise that in your region you are having rkn .

Spray insect killer. Malathyone works grate and doesn't hurt plants

Thanks Mic, i will read it with pleasure.

Figpig, seedlings grow because the birds (and even me!) scatter the seeds; several seedlings proved caprifigs, so do not think i can get something interesting to seedings.
In the countryside there are also many figs of the common type, but they have small fruit, with bad taste in most cases. Get a good fig tree from seed is very difficult.
I live in Sardinia, Italy.

Jdsfrance, in the picture is not seen, but some of these seedlings had nematode tubercles.
A month ago they didn't have, only one plant that i have eliminated, had many tubercles.
Maybe the diseased plant has infected other.

I'm sorry to kill these plants, but in fact there aren't really useful, i'm interested in protecting good figs, and i'm afraid that these seedlings are source of infection.