Incorporating granular nematicides in soil to control potato cyst-nematode, Heterodera rostochiensis

Incorporating either Du Pont 1410 or Nemacur P at 11-2 kg a.i./ha in peaty loam topsoil in Spring, controlled potato cyst-nematodes (Heterodera rostochiensis) to 20 cm deep as well as did 5.6 kg incorporated in Winter before ploughing followed by another dose of 5.6 kg incorporated in the seedbed in Spring. In pots Du Pont 1410 remained effective after several months incubation in soil at 5 or 10 ^oC. Dazomet at 440 kg/ha incorporated in the topsoil in Winter (220 kg before ploughing and 220 kg after ploughing) did not control the nematodes as consistently as 5.6 or 11.2 kg a.i./ha of Du Pont 141 o or Nemacur P, even when the dazomet-treated plots were covered with Polythene sheeting to prolong fumigation. In large containers, aldicarb at 45 mg a.i./13 l soil increased the yield of Arran Banner potatoes as much when incorporated to 13 cm deep in moderately infested peaty loam as when incorporated to 25 or 38 cm deep, but not as much as when all the soil (to 51 cm deep) was treated. Treating the soil to 13 cm deep did not control the nematodes 13–25 cm deep even though some of the nematicide was probably leached into this layer. In field plots, the nematodes were better controlled when Du Pont 1410 or Dowco 275 was rotavated into the top 10 cm than into the top 20 cm of a peaty loam soil. Rotavating soil twice instead of once after applying aldicarb, Du Pont 1410 or Dowco 275 to the soil surface did not increase nematode control. Although small amounts of aldicarb incorporated into the topsoil in Spring controlled the nematodes, the same amounts concentrated in the seed furrows, just before susceptible potatoes were planted in them, did not.