Nematodes can travel up to 1" per hour, but don't assume that they will populate any surrounding areas like a common earth worm. They are microscopic, have a relatively short lifespan, and require host insects to multiply.

If your nematodes have an ample food source in your soil then they'll stay put.

They will hitch on the insects for a ride so they can go a long way... It takes 24-48 hours before the insects croak...

haha, very different answers here. theres deffinitly plenty of insect life in my yard, but theres an abundance in the surrounding lots as well. there is no fence on 2 sides still, so i am thinking i might have some overspray :)

Anecdotally speaking, I've put down nematodes for the past 2 years. They work great for a while against my dreaded fire ants. Then after about 4-6 months the mounds start creeping back up (especially in my mulch beds). My neighbors on either side have mounds at all times, so I don't think my "todes" are migrating very far from application spots.

dao, great observation. maybe it will also depend on the traveling habits of whatever insect it latches on to? we have lots of crickets, i dont know anything about them but maybe they will move around a little more.

lou are you talking about nematodes being viable as a foliar app?? I've only ever used them in a drench and its been my understanding that they wont survive long at all above ground once the water evaporates.

I used the pump sprayer during the break between storms. Just lucky that it rained enough to get the ground wet enough during early evening and gave me long enough of break to apply the entire lawn before another round of storm to wash them down into the ground.

The best time to apply nematodes is during a drenching rain lasting several days.

For fire ants there are a couple new things coming down the pike. Traditionally molasses or other sugar source mixed with water and drenching the mound can help. You might try using the artificial sweetener with Aspartame in it as a powder to apply to the surface of the mound. Supposedly (as the story goes) that material is a mix of amino acids (i.e. protein) and was developed to be an ant poison but found better use as a food sweetener. The third thing to try is a new organic bait called Spinosad. Green Light makes some products with it specifically for fire ants.

David, the story that Aspartame started as ant poison started with a satirical story on a web site called The Spoof (the name of the site should give some indication of how seriously its "news" articles should be taken.

I don't know whether it has any effect on fire ants or not, but it wasn't developed as ant poison.

Im not at all familiar with any strain of nematodes that would attack ants.

David,

I've had great sucess with a drench mixed with molasses, orange oil and spinosad.

Decklap - check out the link

Here is a link that might be useful: Nematodes info

what exactly does "drench" mean? how do you do it?

Thanks for the help on the Aspartame story, y'all.

Drench means you mix up about a half gallon of molasses water (3 ounces of molasses per gallon of water) and pour it slowly into the center of the ant hill. It soaks the soil and the mound. This is different from a surface spray which can also help with fire ants because the fire ants really don't like sugar.

Thanks lou. I saw that link before and I noticed that ants weren't among the targeted pests. The whole concept of using nematodes for foliar apps is a new one on me. I'd like to see some pix of these nems in action on a beetle or ant.

so, if i wanted to apply it to my entire lawn, it would be best to spray it, and then water the lawn(if no rain in the forecast)?

The only ant listed on that page is the imported fire ant.

These creatures work by bringing a disease to the hose insect. Nematodes feed on a certain microbe. It so happens that that microbe is deadly to many species of insects. The nematode is tiny compared to the hosts and can enter the host through almost any orifice. Once they enter, the wipe the disease microbe onto the host and the disease progresses to kill the host. The nematode leaves behind thousands of eggs which soon hatch. The new 'todes feast on the diseased corpse of the host and then launch off to find their own hosts. If I remember correctly that cycle takes a week. Thus if you have ideal conditions, you can multiply your nematode population by millions in a week or so.

The weather forecast is in the future and is not a factor in applying nematodes. They need wet soil as soon as they hit the ground. The best way to apply is to an already saturated soil. Water deeply first then apply while the soil is wet.

The last ones I got traveled about a thousand miles. Fed X helped. (nyuck, nyuck)