Source: NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 6/9/21


As they check their fields and gardens this summer, growers are the first line of defense in preventing the spread of a microscopic worm threatening vegetable crops in the Southeast, including sweetpotatoes. The guava root-knot nematode — Meloidogyne enterolobii or M.e., for short — spreads aggressively and causes more severe damage than other nematode species, says Adrienne Gorny, a North Carolina State University expert on nematodes and their management. M.e. causes abnormal root growth, creating galls on root crops such as sweetpotatoes, and it can infect many other crops, including watermelon, tomato, pepper, carrot, squash, cucumber, soybean, cotton and tobacco.

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