RE: disgusting worm things

Andreas Wistuba (A.Wistuba@DKFZ-Heidelberg.DE)
Fri, 3 Mar 1995 13:11:30 GMT+1


> Diptera is the fungus gnat, according to my big book of bugs.It says that
> in their larval stage (2 weeks) they can be very damaging to roots. It
> also suggested using sticky traps. For the larva, they recommend using
> Bacillus thuringiensis (BTI).

Assuming that you mean the same little flies than I do (I do not
right understand the reason they're called fungus-gnats...) there is
another preparation on the market (at least here in Germany). You can
buy Nematodes which live in the larvae and finally kill them. However
these Nematodes need to be put into the water you water your plants
with immediately on arrival and mine arrived dead already (I checked
them with the microscope). So they did not have much effect on the
plague. However I read reports telling that they are very effective.
Another advantage of introducing such a parasite into a greenhous
would be that the plants are protected for a long time as the
population of flies is constantly kept low. Of cause as with any
parasite the introduction should not lead to a 100% eradication of
the pest as this will in the end also kill the parasite.

> Well, I'll give these things a try and
> we'll see what happens. Thanks for the input. Trish <tcoene@peak.org> >

All the best

Andreas
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