There is a general lack of awareness of nematodes among the general public. This can easily result in the unintentional importation of nematodes on ornamental plants. Growers who do not have nematode problems are often unaware of their existence. This can result in unintentional movement of nematodes in soil, irrigation water, on equipment and on planting stock. In spite of the use of methyl bromide for nursery fumigation, nursery personnel may think this is for weed control which they reason can be done by less expensive means. On farms, nurseries, and in government agencies, there is a continual turnover of personnel, and consequently there is a continuing need for education about the importance of prevention in the management of nematodes.
The terminology associated with government run programs is complex and confusing to those not directly involved. Terms such as sanitation, quarantine, control, and certification have specific legal meanings which are not intuitively obvious and are easily misused as they may be in the ensuing discussion. California has both external programs dealing with plants imported into the state and an internal nursery nematode control program dealing with fruit and nut trees, grapevine, berry and vegetable plant nursery stock grown within the state and destined for commercial farm planting. Plants grown within the state for other than farm planting are not protected by the internal programs.
Historically, the nursery nematode control program for planting stock destined for commercial farm planting was mandatory and publicly funded. Recent budgetary problems threatened the elimination of the program. Currently the program is voluntary and funded by nursery assessments, although stock which is not part of the program cannot be sold within the state.
California's nursery nematode control programs were established based on recommendations of CDFA's Nematode Study Commitee composed of County Agricultural Commissioners, nursery owners, University of California nematologists and CDFA personnel. In recent years, meetings of this committee have been infrequent.
An important point that is not always obvious is that the more successful a quarantine or nursery control program is, the greater jeopardy the program may be in. A successful and well run quarantine program will result in greater precautions on the part of those shipping plants into the state because of the financial losses that will occur if infested plants are found. Internally, a well run nursery program will, over a period of time, result in greater precautions on the part of nurseries with a subsequent drop in the number of infestations discovered. Nematode sampling and processing is time consuming and therefore expensive. Because of this, when budgets are tight, government personnel may naively and erroneously assume that a program with only a few positive findings each year is no longer necessary.
In reality, California's extremely successful internal and external sanitation programs have probably resulted in keeping several potentially devastating nematodes out of the state and others confined to relatively few acres within the state. Any slackening of vigilence can relatively quickly result in the infestation of new areas. For example, one acre of infested nursery stock can result in the infestation of more than 100 acres of farm land. Successful attempts to erradicate nematodes are rare, or perhaps even nonexistent.