Some thought the root knots are N fixing bacterial nodules like those seen in legumes. Althought its been shown that the N fixing bact can also be associated with other plants, in my case I do believe it WAS in fact nematodes!
If you ever realize you have root knot nematodes, discard that soil and start over otherwise you risk reduced yields etc while you're trying to rectify the issue. Keep in mind that since those pests bury themselves in the roots, its almost impossible to manage them with beneficials and other organic insecticides!
So ..... I dumped the bad soil all in a huge pot and will let it dry out through the cold and dry winter then let it dry out in the heat of the summer. Next year i plan on reactivating it, amending it with ewc and lots of alfalfa (which suppress nematodes) and let it cook ... then I'll plant in it things that are known to resist or suppress nematodes like marigolds etc for the whole year then see how it goes (as an experiment)!
Because of that issue, I went ahead and mixed new soil to fill my new 4x (#15) SmartPots. And because I am using those I decided to lower the aeration from 33% to about 25%.
I altered the ratio from 1:1:1 of the base:humus (vermi/compost):aeration
to
1cococoir:2compost/vermi:1aeration
so thats 25% of aeration and coco coir while the 50% is:
a mix of my own sifted compost and sifted vermicompost + Sapropel fertilizer (thats bottom of freshwater lake organic and miniral deposits that happens duebto low levels of O2 and its as black as biochar ... at least 60% of it is organic content) .. + HappyFrog soil conditioner (has compost, vermicompost, bat guanos, and mycos pkus that bullshit forest byproducts which means woodchips lol).
I then added a little extra coco coir and seashore tiny seashells deposits (that look like and feel like coarse sand) ... first pic
Each smart pot was half filled then the amendments were added and mixed in .. second pic. I then added the rock dust (last pic) and filled the pot with more soil and mixed it all in and the pots were moved indoor (warmer).
The amendments are (per 2cu ft in each smart pot):
Little mosquito bits
1cup alfalfa 3-0-3
1cup neem meal 6-1-2
1cup maxicrop kelp meal 1-0-2
1cup jobes organic bone meal 2-14-0
2cup Espoma tomato tone 3-4-6
1cup high N bat guano 10-1-1
1cup malted barley
8 cups rock dust
About 3-4 cups activated (with composted cow manure alfalfa and compost) biochar
While the 4 pots warm up indoors, I added 2 cups of EWC and a cup of compost to a 5 gal bucket of water with airstone and molasses and will aerate it for 36h before I water the new soil with it to speed up the process
Til next update, happy growin yall
Check out my current Organic Fruit Garden:
https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/945580/
and my previous Organic Run:
https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/930415/
and my previous QuadStrain grow
:
https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/916619/
and my previous TriStrain grow
:
https://www.rollitup.org/index.php?threads/883569/
