Interplanting Wheat Is Not an Effective Postplant Management Tactic for Criconemella xenoplax in Peach Production

In two orchard experiments, interplanting wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. Stacy) around either newly planted or 4-year-old well-established peach trees did not suppress (P ≤ 0.05) the population density of the ring nematode, Criconemella xenoplax, after 3 years. Furthermore, inter-planting wheat around newly planted trees reduced tree growth, perhaps the result of competition for water and (or) nutrients. Wheat root exudate was not as attractive to C. xenoplax as peach root exudate, but wheat root exudate did not repel the nematode either. Stacy wheat appeared to be more beneficial as a preplant rather than as a postplant ground cover management tool for suppressing the population density of C. xenoplax.