PEACH growers in the southeastern U.S. are vexed in dealing with root-knot nematodes that can severely stunt peach tree growth. Traditionally, growers have fumigated peach orchard soils prior to planting and then used a nematode-resistant rootstock. But in recent years, growers have faced tough times that have made it difficult to afford preplant fumigants, and many growers have also had difficulty with fumigating at the recommended time of year because of conflicts with managing other crops. At a peach growers' meeting a few years ago, the question was raised as to whether a preplant ground-cover crop could be used to control nematodes instead of fumigation. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant pathologists Andy Nyczepir at the Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron, GA, and Susan Meyer at the Nematology Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, set out to find the answer.
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