Episode 286: fungus gnats revisited

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Transcript

[0:00] Music.

[0:15] Jane Perrone Hello and welcome, this is On The Ledge Podcast. I'm your host, Jane Perrone, and in this week's show, fungus gnats. The little... Yeah, probably best to cut the audio right there because the words I have to say about fungus gnats are not that family friendly. On the 28th of February 2017, the first episode of On The Ledge came out. So between this episode and the next one, it's going to be the show's seventh birthday. Funnily enough, it's my 50th birthday, my actual birthday this week. So a lot of birthdays happening around here. And in that spirit, I thought I would bring you this week an old, old, old episode from the On The Ledge Archive, not normally available to you unless you're a Patreon subscriber. Episode 19, which focuses on fungus gnats. This episode was made in the first year of the podcast. I think it came out in September 2017, so it sounds a little bit different. There is the water sound effect, which I have since removed from the show. So I have tried to quieten this down so it's not very loud. But just to warn you, if you don't like that watery sound, it comes in at around.

[1:41] So you can just be aware of that if that sound makes you uncomfortable.

[1:45] Before we get into that, though, I just wanted to do a bit of housekeeping and also answer a couple of questions that have come up before we get into fungus gnats. So thank you to Hollyhock for reviewing the show. You gave me a three star review, but you said amazingly lovely things about the show. So I'm wondering if your finger slipped there, Hollyhock, but it's OK. I love the review. You called the show a library of information. Interviews and research shared in many exciting ways which is a pretty good way to sum up the show.

[2:19] There's been a bit of an uptick in questions coming in recently so i thought i'd better try to just address a couple of the ones that had come in recently because i think these are maybe helpful to quite a few people the first one came in from amy and was entitled disaster snapped snapped large cactus oh my gosh I think we've probably all been there but this has certainly happened to me anyway Amy has snapped part of a very large cactus that's very old over a meter tall and Amy not surprisingly is desperate to save the snapped off part. What does Amy do? I think the great news about this is that this could actually be a little bit of a rebirth for your old cactus it's brutal but this plant can and will regrow that's the good news with any cactus or succulent particularly a biggie like this the key is making sure that you let that cut callus over before you try rooting it now if it's broken in a really uneven way so you've got a jagged edge to that that wound, I would also recommend just cleaning it up with a sharp, clean knife. Just run it under a naked flame for a few seconds before you use it.

[3:39] Then you can just stick the piece somewhere for a few days, just literally just put it on the shelf somewhere and wait until that end has really dried out. Then you can place it in some gritty compost. You're going to need to kind of give a bit of a support structure to hold it up, but it should root absolutely fine, especially as we move into spring in the northern hemisphere. hemisphere.

[4:04] You probably also want to look at the base that should re-sprout, but you may want to again, tidy up. If it's broken off very messily, you may want to tidy up the base with a sharp knife that will then callous over by itself and should re-sprout. It could take some time for the re-sprouting to happen and also the rooting of the cut piece to happen. As I say, when I talk about a sort of a network of support this could be a bamboo canes, you could put it in an obelisk if you've got an obelisk you could have it coming up through the middle to support it. You want something that's going to hold it in place until those roots have a chance to emerge and get it secured in the compost you could even depending on the kind of pot the original plants in plant it back into the original pot so that it roots into there and you get a more well sort of a more, I don't want to say bushy, that's not the right word, but you get a chunkier look with more pieces coming out of the pot. That could look quite good too. But this is not the end of the game for your cactus. I don't know what species it is, Amy, but I think it's going to be okay. It's devastating when this kind of thing happens, particularly when it's an old cactus that you really want to save. But this happens all the time in nature. And of course, in nature, cacti, this often rejuvenates them and allows them to start again. So see this as a growth opportunity if you can. I hope that's helpful Amy. Another question came in from Patreon subscriber German. You've heard him on the show German Rivera and this one concerns a rusty watering can. So German has got a lovely metal can that he's been using to water his plants but he's realized that it's turned rusty inside. Is this going to affect his plants? Can he still keep using it. Interesting that this can has rusted. I would have thought that a metal watering can should be coated with something on the inside that stops it going rusty if it is actually meant for watering with. That's a bit of a design flaw as far as I'm concerned, but I don't think the rust is going to bother most of your plants. So what is rust? Well, it's simply iron oxide. This isn't soluble in water so your houseplants should be fine.

[6:22] And the final question I wanted to put out to listeners, because I think you can help with this one it's from Jeffrey who is wanting to get some Easter decor together very organized Jeffrey well done so Jeffrey is hitting the thrift stores and local gardening shops and sowing wheat grass and clover into Easter baskets and teacups I love this Jeffrey I want you to come and do this in my house it sounds amazing Jeffrey wants flowers though Jeffrey knows it's too late to force bulbs for this year but could pick some up that have already been done but wants to know if there are any flowering house plants that are reasonably reliable spring bloomers which could be made to bloom around Easter.

[7:07] Something relatively small that could fit on a dining table without looking ridiculous. More specifically Jeffrey's looking for plants with colourful foliage or flowers that have the traditional pastels of Easter. Now here's what I suggested. I suggested African violets, the mini and semi-mini types, which are really cute and adorable. I mentioned these in a recent newsletter. They come in a variety of pastel colors, perfect for Easter, pinks, yellows, lilacs, and they do flower in spring. So it's possible that you should be able to get some, find some that are either in flower or can be brought into flower in good time. I also recommended looking at flowering pot plants, not something I would normally recommend, but I think for this purpose they are ideal. Now when I say pot plants, this means short-lived houseplants that you sometimes find for sale in garden centres. I'm talking about things like primroses, also Calceolaria, the slipper plant. This was one of the very first house plants I bought from Woolworths back in the day, a bright yellow one. Boy, did I love that plant, and boy was I upset when it died.

[8:20] They are both plants that need cool conditions. So if you've got hot, centrally heated, stuffy rooms, they won't last that long. But if you can keep them going a little bit longer in a cooler room, they should last nicely for a few weeks. The primroses you can plant outside the calceolaria probably have to go on the compost heap. I also recommended maybe some mini Phalaenopsis orchids, the moth orchids that come in pastel tones. and you could get them into a really pretty container, add some moss, make them look really nice. The really tiny diminutive moth orchids would be ideal for this. Those are my ideas, but I wanted to throw this out to the audience in time for Easter for Geoffrey. So can you think of anything else that Geoffrey could add to the display? I'd love to know your thoughts because I know you're full of good ideas.

[9:08] So if you've got suggestions for Jeffrey, do drop me a line ontheledgepodcast"gmail.com and i shall bung those into an upcoming episode.

[9:18] Music.

[9:26] Okay time to dig into the archives and listen to my episode about fungus gnats - a couple of points before I hit play. I have slightly edited this episode because one of the products I talked about in the original episode back in 2017, Gnat Nix, a pot topper for fungus gnat prevention, doesn't seem to be available anymore. I point out in the episode that you have to be very, very diligent with these kind of products. The idea being that you put a layer of stuff on the top of the pot to stop the fungus gnats getting in. Gnatnix, I don't think is available anymore. Here in the UK, you can get a product called No Gnats by Larvalight, which I think does the same kind of job. And there's another product called Gnatstop Plant Pot Topper which comes from UK Grow. I haven't tried either of these, but if you want to give that technique a go, those are worth pointing out. Also, in this episode, I talk about BTI. This is still not licensed for use in the UK by regular Joes like you and me. As far as I know, that situation has not changed, despite the fact that there do seem to be products available on places like eBay and Amazon to buy. So just be aware of that BTI products are not licensed for use in the uk which isn't to say they don't work it's just they're not licensed here so that's your caveat and if you want more on fungus gnat prevention how they work a real in-depth guide sign up for my newsletter the plant ledger and you will get sent my pdf detailing everything you need to know about fungus gnats, And if you get the newsletter, but you don't remember receiving that document, then drop me a line and I can send it on to you. Right. Without any further ado, let's listen back to how I sounded in 2017.

[11:54] Music.

[12:04] Welcome to On The Ledge, episode 19. I'm your host, Jane Perrone, and this week we're talking about.

[12:10] Music.

[12:18] Fungus gnats - those frustrating little pipsqueaks of the pest world that float about your house plants in clouds and ruin the cool indoor jungle vibe you've been aiming for we'll be finding out just what fungus gnats are exactly what they do and how to eradicate them from your plants and we've also got a great reader question about growing olive trees indoors that gets me a little bit riled up and we find out why it might not be such a great idea unless you live in a greenhouse. But I suggest some great alternatives too.

[12:50] But first, an avocado update. Thanks to everyone who's been in touch about growing avocados from scratch. And I know some of you have been panicking about cutting your avocado seedlings back because chopping your little babies in half can be a little traumatic, I know. But let me assure you, they really will be fine. I pinched out the tops on mine just after the show and they are now sprouting side shoots, which should help them to be nice and bushy and I posted a video of me doing this to my Instagram story which you can find at j.l.perrone on Instagram. Check there for regular videos and photos which often relate to the things I'm doing on talking about on the show. If you remember I started sprouting some more avocado stones during that avocado episode well one of them has now sprouted so I'll be doing a short video soon showing that and how to pot that little baby up up into some compost, so do go over and take a look. But back to fungus gnats. If you're lucky enough not to have been bothered by these yet, let me paint you a picture. They're tiny little flies that float around your houseplants. They're not going to bite you, although they do look a little bit like miniature mosquitoes.

[14:00] They're not to be confused with fruit flies either, which tend to be fatter and a bit more purposeful in the way they fly about. Fungus gnats are the the spaced out hippies of the insect pest world, floating from plant to plant and never really seeming to get anywhere.

[14:14] But what exactly are they? Over to Kenneth Freeman, head of innovation at Ambius, a global expert in interior landscaping.

Kenneth Freeman Well, fungus gnats, they're a tiny fly. They're in the same biological group as houseflies and mosquitoes. So they're in the diptera order, as it were. So they are a type of fly. And they have two flushes of activity each year, one usually around March, April, and another time, so September, October time, so round about now. Now, this will be a peak season for fungus gnats.

Jane Perrone The fungus gnat life cycle is pretty simple. The female lays eggs in damp soil. About five days after that, the larvae hatch out and start munching on your plant roots. After roughly a fortnight, they pupate for around five days, then emerge as adults that live for about a week. The females can lay dozens, if not hundreds of eggs in that time, so it's easy to see how an infestation quickly gets out of hand.

Kenneth Freeman In commercial nurseries, they can actually do some serious damage to plants. They can eat, the larvae can eat root hairs and damage plant roots. But for houseplants, they're not really a problem in themselves. They don't damage the plants. They're more of a symptom of other problems, most typically overwatering. If you overwater your houseplants, you create the perfect environment for fungus gnats to thrive. And that's the main cause of seeing them buzzing around. ground. They're common. They live in damp soil anywhere. So if they find a nice environment indoors, they'll blow in on the wind and find a nice wet bit of soil with a house plant sitting in it, lay their eggs. And that's how you get them indoors.

Jane Perrone I've heard from many, many of you about your frustrations with fungus gnats. They really do seem to be driving all of us crazy. I asked listener Emily Grigsby of Ohio in the US to share her pain.

Emily Grigsby So over, I would say about the past year, I've gotten quite a few houseplants and we started noticing just a couple here and there. And then actually pretty rapidly, it got bad. And my husband would notice them trying to like fly up his nose at night. And so we're like, okay, we've got to figure this out. We've got to find some kind of a solution. I've actually researched them and they are they're attracted to the carbon dioxide that you breathe out so that's why you'll see them flying directly in your face or just out of view it seems like they're always around and that's pretty annoying. Jane Perrone You're not wrong Emily and for every house plant hoarder with a fungus gnat problem there's a homespun remedy the suggested solutions are many and varied. Repotting every single one of your plants in fresh compost, covering soil with rocks, gravel, diatomaceous earth or sand, adding cinnamon to the soil surface, adding fabric softener to the soil, encouraging spiders to live in your house to eat the gnats, spraying the soil with insect-solid soap, adding peroxide to the soil and placing yellow sticky traps or containers of apple cider vinegar with a few drops of dish soap around your plants. take your pick. I decided it was time to call in an expert to give me the lowdown on which if any of these ideas actually works. Suzanne Wainwright-Evans is an ornamental entomologist who specializes in integrated pest management or for short she's the bug lady. I started out by asking her about probably the most popular solution, top dressing pots with something to stop the gnats laying their eggs.

Suzanne Wainwright-Evans So top dressing with sand or diatomaceous earth, I would definitely put mostly towards the bunk category because with fungus gnats, all it takes is getting just access to a little dirt. So if you don't have it solid covered, that, you know, if you go to water and there's an opening a little bit, they'll find that soil surface to lay their eggs. Or if you've got potting media that's dried down just slightly you know how it pulls away from the side of the pot they'll go right down the side of the pot or they go in the drain holes some of you top dress it solid with sand where fungus net adults can't have access to the soil there to lay eggs they just go down to the drain holes and lay their eggs in there so and that has been tested and researched and that definitely does it just does not work so we can't exclude them

Jane Perrone What's the next option? I've heard lots of things about biological controls. How are the biological controls? Do they work?

Suzanne Wainwright-Evans Yes, that is the way to absolutely control them. And you are very lucky over in the UK, down near Chichester. BASF has the world's largest production facility for nematodes. And nematodes are the best control option for fungus gnats hands down and they now the homeowner can't buy direct from bsf but there's lots of distributors in the uk selling nematodes.

Jane Perrone

so the real answer to your fungus gnat infestation is these teeny tiny naked to the human eye worms and conveniently enough now is the great time to get on with the job of applying them when you're you're bringing in houseplants that have been outside all summer. There are loads of places to source these if you're a UK grower, and you should be able to get your hands on them elsewhere too. I'll post a list of suppliers on my show notes at janeperrone.com.

[19:48] Now, there are many, many species of nematodes for dealing with different pests, so you need to make sure you get the right one. Back to Suzanne.

Suzanne Wainwright-Evans You need the species Steinema feltiae or feltiae, depending on how you pronounce it. That's the best species for fungus gnats, and you just drench them into every pot, and that should stop any of the larva that's in the soil. Now, even if you have adults buzzing around, they can still lay eggs, But once those eggs hatch, then the nematodes will be in the soil there waiting to kill them.

Jane Perrone OK, so far, so good. But how do the nematodes actually dispatch the gnat larvae? Back to Kenneth of Ambius. And be warned, this is a bit stomach churning. So maybe switch off for a few seconds if you're in the middle of eating your dinner.

Kenneth Freeman And when they come across a fungus gnat larva, they will enter it through one of its breathing holes. And once inside it will release a load of enzymes and basically digest the lava from the inside out turning the lava into a bag of pre-digested soup, I guess. It's a very brutal thing to happen but it is a very effective thing and it's self-sustaining as well because once the nematodes have fed off the dissolved lava they can then reproduce and produce more of themselves. If they run out of food, they can hibernate. It's called insisting, but they effectively go into a state of dormancy until more fungus and that larvae appear.

Jane Perrone Phew, thank God all that horror is happening on a microscopic level under the soil where we can't see it. Buying in a biological control such as nematodes is never going to be the cheapest option, but it does have a few advantages over the insecticides that many people still use on indoor plants. Suzanne explains.

Suzanne Wainwright-Evans Now the nematodes, again, if you can get them, and oftentimes they sell them on sponges for homeowners in small quantities, you're right, it's not the cheapest, but it works. We don't have to worry about resistance being developed to the nematodes with a lot of insecticides that have been used heavily for years to control fungus gnats. They just don't work that well anymore because the fungus gnats are resistant to it. And this way, you know, it's completely safe for, you know, your pets, your family, yourself. I've known two people that have actually eaten nematodes to prove that they're basically safe.

Jane Perrone Please don't try that at home, folks. Save your nematodes to do their work on your fungus gnat larvae population instead. But what of the other remedies that I mentioned earlier? Do they work?

[22:25] Well, I don't think you'll do any harm by adding cinnamon to the top of your pots. It does act as a natural fungicide, which means it will kill off some of the fungus the gnats like to feed on. But I don't think it's going to completely rid you of your gnat issue. I really wouldn't advise adding fabric softener to your soil. I think you can work that one out for yourselves. I don't think there's any harm in adding a lightweight or inorganic mulch to the top of your pots. It may prevent some of the fungus gnat eggs being laid, and it will also help to reduce evaporation from your soil and may even make your pots look more pretty. But just don't expect it to be a complete cure, because as Suzanne has pointed out, these little flies will find a way in somewhere. And another option for gnat control, well, if you're outside the UK anyway, is a product called Natrol. It contains the natural larvicide BTI, short for Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. You can understand why they call it BTI - it's a bacterium that occurs naturally and contains spores that produce toxins that specifically kill off the larvae of the fungus gnat so you add this to your soil as a drench and the good news for house plant owners is that all the research thus far seems to show it's harmless to just about everything other than fungus gnats and black flies and mosquitoes that's because the toxins produced by BTI only activate in the alkaline conditions of these insects guts and not in the acidic digestive systems of humans and animals.

[23:50] It seems nigh on impossible to buy in the UK i'm not sure why so i haven't tried it but listeners in America and other parts of the world should be able to get hold of it and I'd love to know if it works for you and the traps sticky yellow sheets will work to catch the adults says suzanne.

[24:07] Suzanne Wainwright-Evans In commercial production, we use them really more to monitor populations, not as a control method. It's so we can check every week to see where our numbers are. But for a homeowner, you can definitely use them. But if a female emerges out of the soil, mates, lays her eggs, then gets stuck on a sticky card. She's already laid her eggs. But it is slowly removing the adults slowly out. And it also lets you, again, monitor their population. Now, you know, you may do some testing for the kind of lighting you have in your room where your plants are. Because in outdoor growing facilities, thanks to research in the U.K., we know that sticky cards perform the best if they're facing south because it's the way the light is reflected off the cards that makes them attractive so they can see them better, which is very hard to do inside of a house. So if I were going to do it in my house, I would do, you know, one upright, but then I'd actually probably lay one flat on its back on the soil surface. And you might get some, you know, coming over and sticking to that because it depends on the size of the plant, the density, how the light is and everything and see which way you can trap the most under your particular conditions.

Jane Perrone And remember, fungus gnats thrive on damp soil. So if you have a serious infestation, it's worth considering whether you're being a little too free and easy with the watering can. And here's one final tip from Kenneth.

Kenneth Freeman And also have a look at some of the growing medium you use. Some growing medium, some of the compost mixes seem to encourage more gnats than others. And some of them, you buy them from the garden centre and there's a very good possibility that they have lots of gnats, that larvae or eggs are actually already in them because of the way that they're produced.

[26:04] Jane Perrone Well, I hope that's given you an insight into the mysterious world of the fungus gnat. Head on over to my website, janeperrone.com, for show notes to accompany this episode, including links to information about the fungus gnat life cycle, how nematodes work as biological controls, and where you can buy products like gnatnix, as well as more information about today's guests. And I'd love to know what's worked for you when it comes to gnat eradication. Just as long as it's not fabric conditioner, OK? Thanks to all of you who've supported the show in the last week by telling your friends all about it, posting a review on Apple Podcasts, or even supporting the show with a donation of £3 or more via the website co-fi.com. I'll include the donate link in my show notes if you'd like to bung me a few quid to keep on the ledge swatting fungus gnats for many an episode to come. Craig, who is @mypottingbench on Twitter, donated recently and left a lovely message for me saying, Really enjoying the podcast, Jane. Keep going. Don't worry, Craig. I shall.

Mark Hamilton On the ledge. Have you hugged your cactus today?

[27:13] Jane Perrone Question of the week comes from Catherine McCallan, who emailed me to say, great podcast. As a first time homeowner slash plant owner, I'm enjoying the hints and tips. I'm really glad to hear that, Catherine. And the question, she says, I was hoping you could give me some advice on indoor trees. I had an olive tree, but unfortunately it hasn't survived. I'm not sure what I did wrong but I think perhaps I over watered it. Can you recommend any alternatives to an olive tree? I've read several articles recently recommending olive trees for growing indoors and I have to admit they all made me feel a little bit punchy. Yeah you can grow olive trees indoors but they aren't the easiest of things to get to thrive. I mean remember these are Mediterranean plants they need maximum light and not many of us can offer that in our modern homes. Yes you could put it outside for the summer and bring it inside in winter but it needs a cool but not frozen environment for its dormancy period over the wintertime centrally heated houses just won't cut the mustard for an olive if you're a bit overzealous with the watering that's another death knell for the olive which like things pretty dry.

[28:20] So overall, I just don't think olives make a very good tree to have indoors. And I just don't think they're that attractive. I really don't. Sorry, anyone who's loving their indoor olive tree. There we go. So what are the alternatives? Well, fortunately, there are loads. For Catherine, who is a self-confessed beginner, I'd recommend trying a few different things. One tree that does really, really well in my house is Ficus benjamina, the weeping fig. It's an elegant tree that it really isn't hard to care for the only thing it really doesn't like is being moved around so just find a spot for it and stick to it it likes partial shade and it doesn't like too much water I mean I've mine's gone for a good two months without any water at all so do let the compost dry out between waterings if in doubt Catherine just hold back on that watering can I'd also recommend the ponytail palm Bocania recurvata which is a lovely stately plant that light's a brightly lit position and it can cope with the warm dry air that most of us have in our homes.

[29:23] One final suggestion for you Catherine and that's Radermachera sinica or the China doll plant. I'd love to know if anyone knows why it's called the China doll plant because I just haven't been able to find that out. It may not be familiar to many of you but this is a native of southern China and Taiwan and it was introduced as a house plant in the UK anyway in the 1980s. I really really remember seeing it coming into the local garden centres and woolies where I used to buy my house plants back in the 80s and wondering what on earth this plant was. Oftentimes it didn't even have a proper label on it. It's got glossy green divided leaves and it will flower in its native environment, these beautiful white flowers, but you're very, very unlikely to get them to flower indoors. So it's mainly the foliage that you're appreciating. It can get a bit leggy, but it responds really well to pruning so just pinch out or cut off any wayward bits that you don't like and you should end up with a nicely shaped plant. It likes a bit more moisture than the other two I've suggested so.

[30:22] You know, you can be a bit more generous with your watering, but do not allow it to get waterlogged. As I mentioned last week, there's a post bag special coming up in a future episode where I'm going to tackle loads of your questions. So get them into me pronto. You can send me a message via the On The Ledge Facebook page. You'll find me at facebook.com forward slash On The Ledge pod. If that doesn't float your boat, you can also tweet me at Jane Perrone. I hope you know that by now, unless you're a new listener, in which case you're forgiven. Send an email to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com or leave a comment on my website, however you get in touch it's useful to have as much information as you can about you your plant where it is what you've done to it all of that information is vital - I don't need to know your shoe size or what football team you support, but just about everything else about you and your house plant would be great to know it really does help to help you out.

[31:16] Music.

[31:28] Well that just about wraps up this week's show - thanks to my guests Emily Grigsby, Kenneth Freeman and Suzanne Wainwright evans and to Mark Hamilton for his voices find out more at markhamilton.org.uk. And for all of you for supporting this show. You heard Hot Lips by Bill BRown and His Brownies and Government-funded Weed by Black Ant, which is covered by a Creative Commons license. See my website for details. Until next week, folks, may your nematodes be mighty and your gnats defeated.

[32:00] Music.

A blast from the past as I replay an early episode of On The Ledge all about those annoying houseplant pests, fungus gnats, plus I answer questions on saving a damaged cactus, rusty watering cans, flowering plants for Easter.

If you’d like to get your hands onto a PDF of my in-depth guide to fungus gnats, sign up for my newsletter The Plant Ledger now.

Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!

Chapters
0:00:15 Introduction
0:02:31 Listener question 1 - how to help a broken cactus
0:05:30 Listener question 2 - can I use a rusty watering can?
0:09:07 Listener question 3 - flowering houseplants for Easter
0:09:25 Fungus gnats archive episode Intro
0:12:04 Fungus gnats: The Pesky Pest
0:26:03 Insight into fungus gnats and eradication
0:27:12 Question of the Week: why olive trees don’t make great houseplants and what to grow instead

Guests from the archive episode on fungus gnats

... were in order of appearance: Kenneth Freeman, head of innovation at interior landscapers Ambius; houseplant enthusiast Emily Grigson, who told me about her fungus gnat woes; and ornamental entomologist Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, aka the Buglady.

MORE RESOURCES ON FUNGUS GNATS

Study the life cycle of the fungus gnat.
Find out more about BASF in Chichester, Sussex in the UK, the major centre of nematode production, as mentioned by Suzanne.
More on Steinernema feltiae and other entomopathogenic nematodes
A list from the RHS on where to buy nematodes in the UK (will open as a PDF)
In the US, these nematodes are often sold under the brand Scanmask.
More information on Gnatrol, the larvicide containing BTI.
The two products available in the UK as gnat-repelling pot toppers are No Gnats from Lava-Lite and Gnat Stop.

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