In season one of SpongeBob SquarePants, nematodes ate away his entire house, which was made of pineapple. This fall, there is concern that these microscopic animals will do the same to Pullman crops. So far, the risk is manageable and quarantine is not likely.

Nematodes are one-sixteenth of an inch long and one-one thousandth of an inch wide, which is about one-fifth the size of a hair strand. However, the have a large bite that attacks the roots of plants and causes massive damage to local farmers in the form of financial and production losses.

“Microscopic animals are so small you can’t see them in soil and they attack the roots, almost like a hypodermic needle, penetrate the roots and absorb nutrients,” said Timothy Paulitz, United States Department of Agriculture research plant pathologist.

The absorption of nutrients causes production of wheat and other grass-like products to be shorter and produce fewer crops than their non-nematode infested counterparts.

No chemical or pesticide can kill nematodes, making it hard to completely eradicate them without killing the host plant, Paulitz said.

Finding the cereal cyst nematodes is one of local farmers’ hardest problems. They hide in roots and suck the nutrients without giving any other clues to their location.

With more than 250 different types of crops grown in Washington, wheat, barley, oats and other grasses are the only crops affected by cereal cyst nematodes.

“Wheat for example is a chronic problem, it’s not the biggest we face but something we minimize with rotation of resistant plants,” James Moyer, director of the Agricultural Research Center said.

Resistant plants are crops such as peas, beans, lentils and canola, which are unendurable by nematodes and with a three-year rotation can reduce or even eliminate a nematode problem.

“Any kind of three-year rotation can help,” said Richard Smiley, professor of botany and plant pathology at Oregon State University. Smiley noted that most farmers in the area choose to do a one-year rotation versus three years because the profitability of some other crops is lower than wheat production.   

The life cycle of a nematode is similar to that of a bee. Because of this, gestation is not a fixed time like in humans, but can vary from nine to 12 months and is sometimes even longer.

“Females transform the cells around her to give her more feed. She produces eggs and they can last years in the cyst before hatching,” Paulitz said. “Males just fertilize females and cause all [the] damage.”

Moyer said nematodes only impact patches of soil and plants, and do not spread quickly.

Even though they don’t spread fast, farmers have to keep up with the problem, which is manageable for most in the area.  

Australia had this problem 30 years ago and it took time for it to become a minor disease, Paulitz said, explaining that U.S. farmers are using the same crop rotation technique Australia did.

The cereal cyst nematode is a newer species to America, introduced to Oregon in the 1970s. By the 1980s they had jumped the Cascades and were affecting Washington farmers. Nobody knows the origins, but Eastern Europe is thought to be a likely source.

“Not common in North America, that species of nematodes was introduced sometime in the past, no one knows why or how, it could be someone buying equipment from some distant location,” Smiley said.

To discover a creature so small it cannot be seen would be nearly impossible without the work of plant pathologists specializing in nematode species and detection.

“Moisture content (tests) are common, but samples are usually not sent to nematode specialist. Tests are expensive, $50 to $100 a test. All species are intermixed and have to be separated out,” Smiley said.

With nematodes being so elusive, finding them and knowing how to combat them is an issue local farmers are dealing with.

With awareness and rotation of crops, Paulitz said nematodes are easily combated and will not affect the integrity of the Washington farms.