The last thing you want on your new greens is an infestation of plant-parasitic nematodes.  Yet the research literature indicates that the most likely source of nematodes found on newly planted greens is the planting stock!  This is especially likely when you get sprigs from a nursery located on sandy soils in an area known to have high nematode populations. 

At Champion Turf Farms we follow an elaborate production protocol (see Quality Control Taken To The Extreme) that enables us to provide you with planting stock that is free of plant-parasitic nematodes:

Native Soil – The chief factor that predisposes an area to nematode problems is sandy soils.  Many turf farms are located in areas where the native soil is sandy.  It is virtually impossible to produce nematode-free planting stock from a region which has high nematode levels in the native soil.  At Champion Turf Farms, the nurseries we use for producing our planting stock for greens are located on heavy clay soil which has no history of plant parasitic nematodes.  We then obtain sand mined from deep underground pits to place above this native soil as a barrier layer.

Field Rotation – Every five years we rotate our production onto new fields which have been maintained in a cultivated state.  The chief reason for doing this is to guarantee genetic purity of our planting stock by starting over with single-sprig production of our grasses from the greenhouse.  An ancillary benefit, however is that out production fields do not sit in production long enough to build-up to problematic nematode population levels in the unlikely event that they were somehow introduced externally.  Parasitic nematodes require a host plant to survive as well as favorable soil conditions.  By periodically placing our fields in a cultivated state for an extended period of time, we make it impossible for undesirable organisms (nematodes, fungal pathogens,  or off-type grasses) to survive.

Production Techniques – Our harvesting techniques ensure that we do not harvest any soil, and only stolons are used for propagation, so there are few if any roots attached to the planting stock.  Since nematodes can only be transported in soil or attached to or within a root, it would be extremely unlikely that any could be transported even if they were in the soil.

Treatment -  As an additional safeguard, we treat the fields each year with a nematacide.  Since the only sand present is a thin layer which is spread on the surface of the native clay soil, this treatment results in very high concentrations of the pesticide in this sand layer.

Testing.  As a final precaution we periodically have our planting stock tested for nematodes.

We have used these techniques for many years to ship nematode-free planting stock into restrictive areas such as Western US states and highly restrictive regions outside of the continental US such as Hawaii, Japan, and Australia.