Beneficial Nematodes

Ever since we have lived here I have noticed a huge population of white grubs in the soil. They are especially plentiful in the compost piles. The Japanese Beetle population seems to be worse some years than others, I guess it depends on the weather...don't really know why, but the grubs are always plentiful. Yes, the chickens and geese love to eat them, but I don't really like them to as the grubs carry parasitic worms.

For this reason I have mulled over whether or not I should order some beneficial nematodes and milky spore. Well, now that we have the cats that we are caring for, the idea came to me that maybe, just maybe, the beneficial nematodes would be of some help against parasitic roundworm eggs or larvae in the soil (the kind that infest cats). Our vet has told me that these roundworms' (eggs?) can live for up to two years in the soil waiting to reinfest an animal as part of thier life cycle.

It is my understanding that beneficial nematodes are themselves a kind of roundworm, but are microscopic in size and are only parasitic to certain pests in the soil. They harm neither animals nor plants. So there are several pests that they will certainly help me with: the beetle grubs, fleas and there have been termites in the soil here. I have not found any info yet that states that the cat roundworms in the soil will be killed by the beneficial nematodes, but it couldn't hurt to try this means of reducing the population of roundworms for the kitties to have to stave off. I've skimmed through several websites on the beneficials and one did state that they are effective against rootworm nematodes; a nematode harmful to some plants....so I just might get lucky with this.

IPM University of Connecticut