Hello - 
So, my husband and I planted three fig trees at our small property this weekend - what we hoped would be the first of many more. We have been fig fans for ages but not had property to plant any in the ground. We did have a white adriatic in a pot for the last 9 years that has given us many delicious figs. We were planning on transferring it to the ground, but on Saturday as we were pruning the root ball (for the first time ever) we discovered signs of root knot nematodes. We put it back in the pot and did our best to collect and remove all the soil we'd spilled on the driveway near the other plantings. 

We went ahead and planted a kadota purchased from a local nursery in the hole we'd dug for the adriatic. Unfortunately, after we'd watered it in, we remembered that our toddler had been throwing clumps of the adriatic's rootball into the bottom of the hole, before we realized it had RKN. 

So now those clumps of RKN roots are deep underground at the base of one of our new fig trees, 8 feet away from each of our other new trees - an apricot, a Mission fig, and a Panache. My question is - is our orchard doomed?? Is there any hope for planting any more fig trees in that patch of ground, or will they all succumb to root knot nematode problems? I have no idea how serious this is. 

Also, is it safe to keep the Adriatic if it stays in the pot, or does that risk further contaminating the rest of our property with RKN? 

Is there hope for our fig future? 
Thank you,
Karen
Santa Barbara, CA

Hello Karen and welcome to the forum.

If your RKN is similar to mine in SoCal it won't prevent you from growing figs. I've had two in ground trees for more than 12 years, both with RKN infestations in their roots but both produce well and are healthy looking from the ground up.

However, other plants (like squash) are more affected and RKN makes growing these impractical. I've tried several "treatments" to get rid of RKN but none have worked. This year I'm finally biting the bullet to do the one thing I think will be effective which is to keep all roots out of the soil for 2 years. Yes, RKN can be spread by soil on tools, etc. If it were me I would dig up the one tree where you know infected soil went into the hole and leave that area barren for at least a year, or plant only non host plants like some species of marigolds.

Best of luck with your figs.

You can air layer the trees and replant them somewhere else if the infestation is that bad.  

Hello Karen,

I think some RKN or their eggs could wash out the drain holes of your pot, so I wouldn't keep it near any uninfected area.

I know the feeling, I have had RKN problems here for many years. Even when I thought I had destroyed all the infected plants and pots, and been evtremely careful with the others, they somehow turned up again.  I airlayered my tree to save it and very carefully disposed of the infected root mass. (I actually had to do it twice.). I am still battling them, I didn't any last Spring, but I'm not in the clear yet.

The fact that your plant was productive is a good sign. Perhaps it is not so affected? I have heard that trees in the ground with RKN can be fine too as long as you maintain good practices, fingers crossed. There is also the possibility it wasn't RKN that you saw.

make sure to use the forum search function, RKN has been discussed many times in the past, so you might find something useful there.

I would water the tree with a mixture of 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 5 parts water. I am not sure if it would fully kill the nematodes in the deep earth, but should eventually kill mostly all in the pot eventually. I would water them with this mixture for 2 mos....this is just a guess. My Panache finally looks RKN free.

Hello Karen, a few years ago a friend of mine had a rkn problem with potted figs.
I put one, Scott's black(aka fantastia) on the side of a mound of fire ants.(old timers trick) They made home in the pot and after 2 weeks , ate all the infected roots . Attached recent picture of tree . The tall one. It needs some trunk pruning now.. I've also read when taking soil to county agent for verification of RKN keep soil out of direct sunlight as that can kill Rkn. So how was the sunshine that day. Lol .also it is usually contained in a four foot radius...? I really don't know what I would do in your case. Extreme action would be,, dig up the tree and drench area with bifinthren. Then flush with water a day later , Or maybe a bleach drench. H2o2 ,? that's green and safe... Well, you could do extreme measures in 5 years from now if the tree looks bad.

There is a type of nematode that eats root knot nematodes. You can purchase them from Garden'so Alive, mail order catalog.