Expert: Long Island Gardener - 5/17/2008

Question
Transplanting and I observed a comment about nematodes.

I'm from toronto Canada
I wish to transplant my daffodiles to my new home. I may need a months time between one home garden to the next.  When can one remove them form the gorund?
How long can they remain in a transplantable form out of the ground?    Is it possible to in late july to have them into a dormant form.  I read about nematodes? I watered them into the lawn... Did I understand reading someones commentthat Nematode inhibit daffodiles from flowering?

Answer
Lots of good questions here, my friend.  Easy answers.

1.  July is a perfect month to move your by-then-dormant Daffodils.  Keep them dry, and don't re-plant until late Fall.  Where are you moving to?  That determines when to put them back in the ground... early enough for a strong root system to develop, but not too late that the ground is frozen solid.  rsvp on this.

2.  Nematodes like insects and people can be GOOD or they can be BAD.  Most, fortunately, are not just GOOD, they are VERY VERY GOOD.  The BAD ones are in the small minority but alas they can be VERY VERY BAD.

The GOOD ones, the ones we like, the ones we can buy and try to grow in our own garden, hunt down the BAD BUGS we do not like at all.  Search and destroy, that's what they're good at, and they can ruin the day of a Bad Bug big time.

But those BAD Nematodes are something else, and we don't like to get them near our garden plants or our Daffodils.  One of the 'diseases' a Daffodil can get is Nematodes.  But not just ANY Nematode, mind you. In the U.S., there are pretty much 2 Nematodes a Daffodil lover will have to worry about: Root Lesion Nematodes (which Botanists call 'Pratylenchus penetrans') and the Bulb/Stem Nematodes ('Ditylenchus dipsaci').

Root Lesion Nematodes -- which is considered public enemy number 3 on the Nematodes list because it does so much damage to crops in this country, zeroes in on plant roots.  See this lovely photo from the Nematode Net, suitable for framing:

www.nematode.net/Species.Summaries/Pratylenchus.penetrans/index.php

When you are settled, get in touch with your Cooperative Extension agency and have your Soil tested, including a test for Nematodes.  Then you'll know if you have anything to worry about.  Composting and Soil Sterilization wipe out the entire Nematodes population, good and bad alike.

Bulb and Stem Nematodes are a little more like Viruses.  Unlike Root Lesion Nematodes, which seem to interfere with plant vigor and foliage, these Bulb and Stem pests speck and spot up leaves and flower parts.

These are easy to kill by soaking the Bulbs in a 'hot water bath'.  Heat water to 112 degrees F.  Full instructions at University of California at Davis website:

ucdnema.ucdavis.edu/imagemap/nemmap/ent156html/204NEM/PHWT

Could be worse.  Thanks for writing.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER