June 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of June 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

In June, we dove into the basics of nematodes. Nematodes are all around the word, many are free living and some are parasitic on plants and animals. On plants, their damage can look similar to a lot of other things that go wrong with plants like water stress or nutritional deficiencies. Above ground, the symptoms of nematodes can look like yellowing, stunted growth, wilting, or thinning of plants. Below ground nematode symptoms can be stunted roots, deformed growth, dark or rotted roots, lesions or galls. To diagnose nematode issues, a nematode assay is required. the UF/IFAS Nematode Assay Lab offers testing services if you suspect nematodes may be causing issues on your plants.

In this month’s first Friday webinar, we talked about a few invasive nematodes that we do not want to have in Florida including golden nematode, pale cyst nematode, chickpea cyst nematode, British root-knot nematode, and red ring nematode. All of these species could cause serious issues for Florida’s agriculture if introduced to the state. The best method of control for nematodes, like these species, is prevention. Nematodes are one of the reason that it is prohibited to move soil from other countries to the US. There are also many precautions in place to stop the spread of nematodes through the horticulture and agriculture industries. These include stringent quarantine measures, regular monitoring, use of certified nematode-free planting materials, and public awareness programs to educate growers and the public about the risks and management of invasive nematodes.

Resources on Nematodes

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What is the upcoming schedule?

We are meeting online via Zoom from 12:00PM-1:00PM on the First Friday of every month from Sept 2022-Aug 2024. Please visit this blog for registration information and the upcoming schedule for Sept 2023-2024. The links to our next cycle of webinars (September 2024 – August 2025) should be available soon, so be on the lookout for this in the near future!

Questions?

Contact Dr. Morgan Pinkerton, morgan0402@ufl.edu

Visit the Florida First Detector Website