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Growers Talk Production
| Roger McGaughey
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>> Published Date: 10/15/2009
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 It’s always fun when things work out. Learning more about the biological approach and the very positive effect that nematodes have on crops makes growing even more exciting. It almost reduces the stress of growing sensitive crops, such as poinsettias. One of my goals with this year’s crop was to avoid the use of chemical fungicides and pesticides. Toward this end, I planted some young eggplants into 12-in. pots to use as trap or guardian plants for my poinsettia crop. (I placed these in one of the houses where my spring weekly nematode application may have been missed on occasion.) Eggplants are good indicators of whitefly. If any whiteflies are present in the greenhouse, they are attracted to the eggplants first, which will let you know quickly if you have a potential problem. What happened with this eggplant crop was a total revelation to me.
As with all my other crops, they received the usual RootShield application at planting, and with every feeding, they had an application of nematodes in conjunction with the fertilizer. I followed this practice with my 12-, 10- and 9-in. poinsettia crops. As you can’t mix nematodes and fertilizer in the same tank, I did this with two Dosatrons in tandem—fertilizer in the first and nematodes in the second. Nematodes were also sprayed over the plants at this time. As the eggplants developed, the older leaves showed serious thrips damage—pitting and scoring of the tissue. The new younger leaves, however, grew out completely clean and unmarked. As shown in the photos, the new leaves are clean and the root system is excellent.
One of the benefits of nematode application is that you can check the viability of the wriggly worms at any time. As long as the pressure is low and you remove any filters, you can use a hydraulic sprayer to apply nematodes. With the aid of a flashlight and a 10X power hand lens you can see the worms swimming in the water solution in the plastic insect trays. If they are curly and moving, they are viable. If they are straight as needles, they are dead.
Nematodes are best applied on rainy, cloudy days or in the evening when it’s a bit cooler and not sunny. One problem I’ve faced during the summer is to keep the solution cool. To solve this I use a cooler with the icepacks that come with the nematode delivery. For my half-spaced 4½-in. crop I mixed RootShield WP and nematodes in the same tank.
The biological growing story is being written on almost a daily basis. So far, the foliage of my poinsettia crop is very clean and the plants have an excellent root system. In all crop sizes, yellow cards show an almost complete elimination of the thrips population that I inherited with the rooted cuttings we bought in. Fungus gnats are also a thing of the past. I plan to use my new friends all the way through the crop, even in conjunction with calcium sprays. Trials are currently being undertaken to ensure that calcium chloride dehydrate will not affect their viability. Undoubtedly, growing poinsettias will continue to be challenging, but roll on Christmas … and then they will be gone.
Roger McGaughey, head grower at Michael’s Greenhouses in Cheshire, Connecticut, was educated in Northern Ireland and England and has 34 years experience as a grower.
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