Going nuclear with nematodes
One of my mortal enemies is the mere fungus gnat. I loathe these suckers and a single sighting at home is sufficient to ruining my day.
Alright maybe they're not that bad, but I still hate the damn things. Since acquiring a collection of houseplants, they have cropped up on occasion and slowly chipped away at my sanity.
You ever walk around the garden section of Home Depot or Lowes and see gnats buzzing around the plants? Yeah, it's those guys.
So what exactly are they, and where do they come from? The fungus gnat is a small pest (only maturing to a couple millimeters) commonly known for annoyance within the garden and houseplant communities which feeds on fungi within soil. Behaviorally they just sorta walk around (flying sometimes too!) seeking sustenance in and around the top layer of soil. The makings of a nuisance to plant owners everywhere.
Since fungus gnats are 1) stupid and 2) weak, they are unable to dig deeper than that top layer. In past bouts with these frickin fricks, I've eliminated them by replacing only the top couple inches of soil around afflicted houseplants.
As they primarily live and lay eggs in the soil, complete avoidance can be quite difficult. It is not uncommon to find fungus gnats already infested in fresh potting soil, especially shit like Miracle-Gro - not making that purchase again. Even in a metaphorical or literal walled garden, the eventual need to replace soil (or in my case buy new houseplants) means it's only a matter of time until they're reintroduced.
As they feed on fungi, these gnats also thrive in moist soil. High moisture levels means more fungi means more gnats. It's also worth calling out that they are hardy insects and will seemingly reappear out of thin air. I have a ~1 year old sansevieria which is kept particularly dry, but after a heavy watering I'll see them pop back up like sleeper agents.
Those little yellow sticky traps are insufficient for an infestation - at best they'll only keep numbers down. I've also applied neem oil before as a natural insecticide to mixed results. So how do we turn the tides of this war?
Introducing nematodes.
Unlike the destructive framing nematodes are given in Spongebob, it turns out there's ~beneficial nematodes~. Different subspecies of nematode are known to eat various insects, acting as a natural solution to our problem. Steinernema feltiae (Sf) nematodes are a particular type known to target fungus gnats and their larva. Nematodes are microscopic and are able to enter gnats/larvae where they chow down and release bacteria which poisons their blood. Rad. And they're completely people, pet, and plant safe <3.
A packet of them to be mixed with 1-5 gallons of water only costs around $20 (plus shipping and handlingβ’) so I decided to give it a shot. I happened to order from NaturesGoodGuys per recommendations from /r/houseplants.
At the time of writing I've only just applied the army of nematodes. Now we wait!