A soil borne pathogen is a disease-causing agent which lives both in soil and in a plant host, and which will tend to infect undiseased plants which are grown in that soil. [1] Common soil borne pathogens include Fusarium , [1] Pythium , [1] [2] Rhizoctonia , [1] Phytophthora , [1] Verticillium , [1] Rhizopus , [2] Thielaviopsis , [2] and nematodes [1] including Meloidogyne . [3] [4]