The microscopic nematodes contained within Fungus Fly Killer will seek out, infect, and kill Fungus Fly larvae. The nematodes will die out naturally once infestations are contained. Nematodes can also be safely applied in combination with soil borne predatory mites. For More Information On Fungus Gnats Read ' A Gardener's Guide To Biological Control' John Sanderson, Suzanne Wainwright-Evans & Ronald Valentin. Grower Talks, 2021. Best Practices for Biocontrols Part 4.

Some of the predatory mites, bugs and beetles are generalist predators and so should be used with care Control: Nematodes Steinernema feltiae (spring application)and S. carpocapsae (summer application). Adult fungus gnats live for about 7 days. In this time each female lays a staggering 150 eggs in the soil of your plant. After about 5 days, these eggs hatch into larvae. These larvae are the ones that can cause root damage and live up to 14 days. They then form pupae to transform into the adult fly form, which takes about 5 days. How long do gnats live? Table 1. Commercially available insecticides registered against fungus gnats in greenhouses. RAC Group NumberSome species of nematodes are plant-eating, but the ones in your biological control product are insect-eating. As such they will have no effect on your plant, as they cannot consume any part of the plant. You might be concerned that you’re releasing an unwelcome species into your garden, but the right kind of nematode is a boon for your lawn and dies off once the food source (grubs and larvae) is gone. HM & HB nematodes — a weapon against grubs

They look like microscopic worms. Technically they’re not worms though (for one, they’re bodies aren’t segmented, and two, they’re much smaller). They have their own phylum, Nematoda. There are over 20,000 species of nematode that we know of. However, scientists estimate there are likely as many as 10 million species. With the azadirachtin mixed according to the manufacturer’s instructions, pour an even amount of the solution across the soil surface to kill any present fungus gnat larvae. STEP 4: Replace the top layer of soil. You won’t see any adverse effects of nematode use if you buy them from a reputable source. However, as mentioned earlier, not all nematodes fight grubs and larvae; some invade your plants’ roots.

References Cited

The adults are 2–8 millimetres (0.08–0.3in) long, and are occasionally pollinators of plants and carriers of mushroom spores. [2] They also may carry diseases such as pythium (which causes " damping-off" to kill seedlings) on their feet. [3] Mortality of Bradysia odoriphaga following entomopathogenic nematode addition and waterlogging. (A): H. bacteriophora and waterlogging treatment, (B): S.feltiae and waterlogging treatment, (C) both entomopathogenic nematode species (EPN) and waterlogging treatment (C). hb: Heterorhabditis bacteriophora; sf: Steinernema feltiae. 0hr, 2hr, 4hr: no waterlogging, waterlogging for 2, 4hr, respectively. “EPN+, EPN−” indicates with and without EPN addition, respectively. Bars represent the number of dead larvae of total (241 on average) in each colony of chive. Statistics presented in the upper part of the figure are following a two-way ANOVA. “*” in Fig. 3C indicates significant differences between two EPN species in within that waterlogging treatment. Different letters above set of bars indicate significant difference between EPN and waterlogging treatment ( P<0.05). Braun SE, Sanderson JP, Wraight SP. Larval Bradysia impatiens (Diptera: Sciaridae) potential for vectoring pythium root rot pathogens. Phytopathology. 2012 Mar;102(3):283–289. Fungus gnats are actually attracted to soil, rather than plants, so they can infect all plant types.