I was confident that I had found the solution, very hopeful. I can now confirm that I was right - Beneficial Nematodes are the answer!

(I lost my first lemon seedling a few months ago when the infestation began. Happy to report that these guys are no longer covered in fungus gnats trying to eat them. (just pusscat floof!))


So the application was last Thursday, in the evening as required and it wasn't anywhere near as complicated as I thought it would be. Turned out that for my requirements you don't really have to do any measuring at all. If you're looking to cover a large outdoor space, in order to do so cost effectively then you have to measure but for houseplants there's really no need to be precise. Not being precise really appeals to me 😄

I used de-ironised water so that I could treat the carnivorous plants at the same time. That was funnelled into an empty water bottle and a mini measuring spoon of beneficial nematodes were added. It was shaken to mix then all soil was drenched with it. I think it took a couple of litres in total.

10pm on Friday night was when the nematodes went to work, just 24 hours after application. There wasn't a big decrease of the fungus gnats over the weekend because the BM eat the larvae not the actual gnats but there were fewer because not so many were hatching.

Today I can say with certainty that beneficial nematodes really do work. There's still a few gnats flying about which is fine as they're food for my Sundews but overall I have the problem under control now.

It's a huge relief as they were so invasive. Constantly flying into our faces, drinks and food. Killing off my seedlings. I've completely lost all of the Mugwort and Chamomile yet again. Tarragon has also been hit hard.

The beneficial nematodes are said to work for the next 18 months eating the larvae so all the plants and seedlings that are in here now are covered. Same for sowing seeds, so long as they're put into soil that's been treated we're good. Anything new coming in needs to be treated.

I do actually have three newbies coming, Bay and Melissa in the next week or so and Samphire coming next month 😁 I'm still on the hunt for a Mexican Butterwort 👀

If you're having problems with fungus gnats (sciaridae flies) get some beneficial nematodes and suffer no more!

💜💜💜