How to Use Beneficial Nematodes in Your Garden.

Rate: (4 Ratings)

Nematodes are microscopic living creatures that can be found in your garden soil. The Beneficial Nematodes are an organic gardeners dream because they are hungry predators that feed on the larva of some of our nastiest garden pest. When you release this Beneficial, they lay and wait in the soil for the larva of crane fly, fleas, root weevils, grubs, cut worms, borers, gnats, and a wide range of other pests. The good news is that they leave hard working worms alone and they don't harm birds, pets, or humans. You can have all the benefits of theses Nematodes in your garden and by following a few key steps, you’ll guarantee bug killing success.

Flag Article

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Your bucket of Beneficial Nematodes
A clean watering can or a clean pump sprayer
Sprinklers
A clean stirrer

Step1

Make sure you buy your Beneficial Nematodes from a reputable dealer. The Nematodes are dehydrated, but alive (like sea monkeys). They have to be properly handled and stored. When shopping for Nematodes, they have to be refrigerated at around 40 degrees (give or take a few degrees). If they are not properly refrigerated, they are already dead. Mail orders take a great deal of care to properly ship healthy Nematodes. Once you get your Nematodes home, keep them in your refrigerator until your ready to use (4 weeks max).

Step2

Once your outside soil has warmed up to a minimum of 55 degrees, it's safe to release your Beneficial Nematodes. They like to travel through moist soil, so water your lawn and garden extra well before releasing. Nematodes don't like sunlight, so the best time to release is at night.

Step3

Now you have to rehydrate the Nematodes. It's usually 1-2 gallons of water, but read the instructions on the back of the package to be sure. Fill up your watering can or sprayer (extra clean so you don't kill your Nematodes will left over chemicals). Empty the package of Nematodes into the can/sprayer and stir to agitate the water. Allow them to soak for one hour, stirring every 10 minutes (keeping that water agitated helps all of the Nematodes to get activated, otherwise they sit in a layer at the bottom of the can and die).

Step4

So now it's evening, your gardens are well saturated and the Nematodes are swimming with life (sorry, they're too small to see). Water the garden with your Nematode filled watering can, keeping the water agitated with your stirrer. Or, screw on the lid to your pump sprayer and spray away, keep shaking and swirling the mixture. Water or spray the soil, keep the Nematodes off plant leaves. They don't case damage to the leaves, but they'll get "beached" on the foliage and never be able to make it into the ground to do their job. If the soil seems to be getting dry, turn those sprinklers on so the Nematodes can "swim" through your soil and find larva to feed on.