I've never had RKN. With over 200 trees I felt pretty lucky that I've not had to deal with these critters.

This past weekend I was filling pots whose soil level had lowered over time. Pulling each out of its pot, adding soil, replacing the tree and packing additional soil around the sides. I'd gone thru maybe 40-50 pots when pulling one out I noticed nodules. I was shocked. None of my other pots had them. How on earth could only one pot (so far) be infected? It's an older tree from 2009, Afghan A. It is loaded with nodules! Unfortunately before I realized it soil had spilled in several places/adjacent pots including the ground.

Not sure what to do now. I'm going to remove this pot from the area and put it on cement while I airlayer the top. I'll destroy the remaining soil in my outdoor firepit...a nice HOT fire.

Guess I'm going to have to try some of the home remedies mentioned on this site and do some additional research for RKN control...not happy at the moment. :-(

Hey Sue,

All is not lost.

I had the same thing happen to me about 5 years ago. I had about 50 in pots and was repotting the last few. I pulled a 5 gallon and it was LOADED and I was shocked. First time in about 12 years of growing I saw some.  It was the ONLY affected pot. I use to amend the garden with bagged cow manure. I suspect that's the way they arrived.

I did some reading and came across a landscaper in FL that had a  lot of success  treating a RKN infested  lawns with sugar and water. I read a lot of bad things about sugar but tried it anyway. Black strap molasses is also supposed to help but I've never used it. 

I shaved a couple of inches of soil from the sides, bottom and repotted. Dissolved a cup of white sugar in hot water and watered the plant. I did this a total of 3 times that year.

Next year there were only a few areas of the root ball infected. The following year very, very few. 

I did more reading and came across crab/lobster shell as a good additive to combat RKN. I add it to everything. I see small outbreaks of RKN now and then, mostly on plants in large tubs that sink their roots into the ground but nothing like the first plant.

I'm down in Oceanside and I have seen RKN on the roots of some of my potted trees. Looks like they found the 78 and headed towards the mountains. One thing that I noticed, however, is that RKN likes living in pots. I have never had a RKN problem with in-ground trees, but I have had a RKN problem with potted trees. I fixed the problem by cutting off most of the infected roots and two years later, it's growing well in another pot. I hope everything works out fine for you Sue!

Sue,
I had the same thing happen with my white genoa fig growing in a half wine barrel. It wasn't doing well and I took it out to root prune and that is when I found a massive infestation of RKN. I had spilled soil all over the ground and wondered if I had contaminated my whole yard. I was so stressed out. However , like donpaid said, I haven't noticed a problem with RKN in the ground. They seem to concentrate in the pots. So I would clean up the ground as best you can and maybe remove the top layer of soil for pots that got contaminated. Make sure to thoroughly clean any tools, etc to avoid cross contamination.
Paul

RKN has run rampant in my collection, the insects and roaches have transferred them to my other pots. I had 85 varieties a year ago and I now have half. I am OK with it, it has made me decide which ones I should try to get again. And thanks to fellow friends (collectors) I can replace 95pct of them...... I have been thinking about air-layering a few to save, but I am concerned that the insects would go up and contaminate the airlayer.....  If I do airlayer, I am going to wrap the bottom of the tree with lots of tape like material and put Vaseline or something to stop the insects from going up the tree.......  For me it takes about a year to year and half to lose the fig to RKN.... a RKN tree can live years if planted directly into soil.  I know you have an important decision to do.  Any trees that you suspect may be infected should be moved far away from the others....Good Luck !!!! 

It is interesting reading the responses so far about folks who have had to deal with it in their collections.  I've had it show up in my plants a few times over the years.   I annually check each plant by pulling it out of its pot in the spring time (checking right now) and do this over a large plastic container to contain any contamination that might show up.    I've caught infestations before they got out of control, at least I think I have it under control.   Nothing last year and so far so good this year.

When I have found infected plants, it is usually from a recent acquisition or I have also suspected that it could have been picked up from a local location where a pot was in contact with the ground.  

When a problem is discovered, I carefully remove the plant from the soil if it is a small plant (I do this over a plastic bag lined garbage can).   I trim the roots a bit and then give it a soaking in 120 deg water for about 15 minutes.   (I've written about the warm water solution before)   This has always been successful at killing the RKN and only once did I loose a plant.

You can also "quarantine" the plant (on a warm concrete driveway - I think the nematodes would cook quickly if eggs or nematodes escaped the pot in that environment).   I think that the air layer would work - make sure no soil contacts the layer!    You could also try rooting a cutting.

Byron

Sweep, sweep & fire, fire should definitely kill them very nasty little critters - RKN ...
Nip 'things' in the bud.
Good luck.

Have always wondered if RKN was transmissible but inscets and critters. Can earthworms, crickets, rats, etc. that come in contact with infected soil keep enough nematodes on their skin or fur or toenails, etc. to transmit them to the next place that they burrow or dig?

Could be. I just don't understand why only one pot out of the 50 or so I looked at is infected. If I have time I'll check more pots this weekend to see if I find any more.

Last year I tried a product from a local independent nursery called Monterey Nematode Control.  It seems pricey but it dilutes with water so it goes a long way.  I tried it on a root cutting I separated from one of my in ground figs and potted up that clearly had nematode galls.  After a couple applications I noticed healthier root growth and significant decrease in galls.  This year I'm going to try it on my in ground trees just for safe measure.  One other thing, the label on the insert doesn't list figs so I called the company and the rep assured me that the product will work on fig trees.  Good luck!   

Thanks to Byron, I started dipping my infected trees in hot 115-118 degrees and it appears that the 4 trees came out looking happy. I did this on Friday and Saturday..... Its been around 80 in temps lately...... So I started the water temp of the water in my very large bucket at 100 and started to pour in the hot water farthest away from the fig tree. I Didn't want to pour 150 degree water directly on top of the roots....... I poured slowly the water in little by little it took me about 10 minutes to raise it up to these high temps. I wanted to make sure it got really into the soil and potting mixture, so I let it soak for 20 minutes in the higher temps.
In review the fig tree was in the water for 10 min at 100 and slowly raised up to 118. Giving it a total of being submerged for 30 minutes. ( I would recommend 2 thermometers to make sure their one is not defective ).