---
title: Nematode
canonical: https://gardensuperstore.com.au/problem-solver/nematode/
dateModified: 2026-08-07 09:51:52
summary: "Microscopic soil worms that attack plant roots, causing poor growth, wilting and yield loss in vegetables, turf and ornamentals across Australia."
type: article
keywords: [Nematode, Nematoda]
---

# Nematode

> Microscopic soil worms that attack plant roots, causing poor growth, wilting and yield loss in vegetables, turf and ornamentals across Australia.

*Nematoda*

Plant-parasitic nematodes are microscopic, unsegmented roundworms that live in soil and inside plant roots. They are far too small to see with the naked eye, appearing as slender, translucent, thread-like worms only a fraction of a millimetre to a few millimetres long under a microscope. Different groups behave differently: root knot nematodes cause swollen galls on roots, root lesion and burrowing nematodes tunnel through root tissue causing dark lesions, and cyst nematodes form tough, egg-filled cysts that remain visible on roots as small brown or golden beads.

Juvenile nematodes hatch from eggs in the soil or within root galls and cysts, then move through soil moisture films to find and penetrate root tips or root hairs. Adults of most damaging species remain within or on root tissue for much of their life, feeding with a needle-like mouthpart called a stylet. Some species, like leaf and bud nematodes, live above ground in leaf tissue rather than roots.

Nematodes occur in soils throughout Australia and affect a wide range of hosts, including vegetables, fruit trees, ornamentals, turf grasses and broadacre crops. Root knot and root lesion nematodes are the most common problem species in home gardens and lawns, particularly in warm, sandy soils where they move and reproduce most readily. Populations build up over successive seasons of growing susceptible plants in the same soil.

Management relies on prevention and soil health rather than a single quick fix. Rotating with non-host or resistant plant varieties, improving soil organic matter, avoiding moving infested soil or plant material between garden areas, and solarising or fallowing badly affected soil over summer all help reduce populations. In lawns, maintaining good irrigation, aeration and fertility reduces the visible symptoms of damage even where nematodes are present.

## How to identify

- Above-ground signs are non-specific: stunted or uneven growth, yellowing, wilting in warm weather despite adequate water, and reduced yield or vigour that doesn't respond to fertiliser.
- In turf, affected patches may thin out, wilt quickly in heat and be slow to recover after stress, often mistaken for drought or fungal disease.
- Dig up a suspect plant and wash the roots gently to inspect them directly: root knot nematodes cause knobbly, swollen galls that cannot be rubbed off (unlike beneficial nitrogen-fixing nodules on legumes, which are looser and detach easily); root lesion and burrowing nematodes cause dark, sunken lesions and a stunted, poorly branched root system; cyst nematodes leave small round cysts attached to fine roots.
- Because symptoms overlap with nutrient deficiency, waterlogging and root disease, a definite diagnosis for damaging soil-borne species usually needs a laboratory soil and root test rather than visual inspection alone.
- A simple field indicator in turf or garden beds is patchy, gradually worsening decline over several seasons in the same location, especially where susceptible crops or lawn have been grown repeatedly without rotation.

## Registered products we stock

- [Stealth | Miticide & Insecticide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/stealth-miticide-insecticide/) — PCT CroPro
- [Agador | Turf Nematicide & Miticide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/agador-turf-nematicide-miticide/) — Syngenta
- [Indemnify | Turf Nematicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/indemnify-turf-nematicide/) — Envu

## Image credits

- [Photo: David B. Langston, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0 us)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meloidogyne_incognita_galls_(01).jpg)
- [Photo: Scot Nelson via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meloidogyne_javanica_on_Colocasia_esculenta.jpg)
- [Photo: Elizabeth Bush, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Bugwood.org via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0 us)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meloidogyne_incognita_at_Solanum_tuberosum_(02).jpg)