By David Moseley, Watson, Tristan
LSU AgCenter
If you find irregular patches of soybean plants that look generally stunted, yellow, or dead, the cause could be nematodes. Generally, nematodes jeopardize the root system of the plant. Therefore, the plants will often have symptoms that mimic other maladies such as drought and nutrient deficiency. It is not uncommon to find nematodes throughout Louisiana. A recent survey (2019-2021) detected Southern root-knot nematodes in 22% of 164 fields.