Comments on: Steinernema feltiae – Fungus Gnat Killer

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:56:37 +0000

Thanks! I ended up diluting them in a fraction of the water called for on the package–maybe 2 cups instead of a gallon or more. I don’t have a garden, so I wanted to use them all in the bin. I soaked some dry newspaper in the nematode mixture and put that in there, and just poured the rest on and left the bin uncovered. So far so good. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to capture photographically evidence of their operations, like you have, but I’m hoping I’ll notice a discernible reduction in the gnat population.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:39:30 +0000

Hey Brian – sorry for the delay getting back to your here. That is a good question. Given my frugal nature (and how expensive I remember the nematodes being – haha) my gut feeling is to recommend doing the water dilution. BUT, if there is absolutely no other place you will be using the nematodes (your garden, other worm bins etc) then perhaps there really isn’t much point in doing so. I think they will keep for a period of time in the fridge, but again if you don’t have any other potential application for them, it will be kind of a waste. At least by adding the sponge to the bin (not sure I would bother to cut it up) you will end up with LOTS of them in there. If you don’t add water – at least make sure to mist the area where they are added. The moisture will help them move around and find their hosts.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:22:16 +0000

Great advice here. I just bought some nematodes. I’m wondering if I should go ahead and mix them up in water, or if I should just cut up the little sponge they come on and place that around the bin. I’m worried about adding too much extra liquid (the package directions say to rinse out the sponge in something like a number gallons, which would be ridiculous).

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:01:49 +0000

Hi James,
The opposite appears to be the case actually – there is at least one scientific study to indicate that composting worms can end up killing off these nematodes over time.
These nematodes are specialized for attacking insect hosts – not all invertebrates (or other creatures in general)

By: James

James — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:41:52 +0000

Umm, they do not harm worms? Seeing Eric’s comment… less this less that.. but what about worms?

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:53:26 +0000

About 10 years ago Arizona Botanical sold me beneficial nematodes for yard ussse. One small package of nematodes seems to have populated my Arkansas yard forever. The first year we had a few less brown beetles in yard and the annual army worm crawl up the front wall of house did not happen. Since the first year, yard has less ants, fewer & smaller insects. Cicadas leave less shells. Yard is quieter day & night.We do not find winged termites in yard.
We still have northern fence lizards, box turtles, anoles, toads & snakes, so I have no reason to fear the nematodes in yard.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:01:22 +0000

Hello, googled Steinernema feltiae and your page was #1 hit .

I’ve had problems with these buggers for a long time, I don’t know if it’s fungus gnats but these little fellows like to put larvae in my flower pots and I have tried every trick in the book…
Killing them each time I see one…
Use water with some vinegar and soap (it does attract them but they reproduce faster than they are dying) and change soil – I have not tried putting sand on top, apparently this will suffocate the larvae and make the plants less interesting for the flies to lay their eggs in.
There was a time I only found one fly in total, they seemed to have died (after I had located what flower had been infected to the max and sprayed it almost to death with green soap (I was desperate))!

I had once planted a garlic, it grew nicely until they actually made a LARVAE NEST inside the actual garlic! These larvae seem to love garlic, lol. It was a horrible experience seeing all the larvae which looked more like translucent worms with something black in them, crawling around the garlic root and eating it from the inside. Ugh… *shivers*

But now they are back, more than ever and they rapidly increased when I bought three new plants from a flower shop (eggs or larvae probably came with all of them – you could think they actually try to defeat these buggers in the store but it doesn’t look like it!)

I ordered a bag of nematodes (Steinernema feltiae) and put it into water and watered almost all plants (one bag wasn’t enough – I probably used more than I should have in each pot).
The results will be very interesting, I can’t wait to see these f*****s gone o_O.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:01:55 +0000

Hi Guys,
I bought these nematodes from a place called ‘Natural Insect Control’
The product is referred to as ‘NEMS’:
http://www.naturalinsectcontrol.com/catalogue/getprod.cgi?2201A

By: Sherry

Sherry — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:18:06 +0000

Hi Bentley!
Just this morning the gardener on the news program was talking about using nematodes on the lawn to get rid of grubs. He mentioned that they are microscopic and you add water to them, then water the lawn.

My “sweetie” is VERY tolerant of my worm hobby, and he shrugs off the flies that have emerged from my bin that hve the worms from the farm manure. I know for a fact, that he would not be impressed with a bloom of fungas gnats. I’ve had them in houseplants before and they are a big pest. Having 4 bins in an apartment (!) I am always on the lookout for unwanted pests and not overfeeding to ward off potential problems.
Like a “apple” I would like to know where you purchased these good bugs in case I have a need for them in the future.

LOVE your site!
Sherry

By: apple

apple — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:53:32 +0000

amazing as always, bentley!

do you have a recommendation as to where to find nematodes?