Pot Popper - 8 Pouch

Since the reviews here are iffy and there are no easy better alternatives to these on Amazon, here is my review. Upon buying, you will get some pouches, which you need to put near at the top of the soil (in terrarium pots in my case) where there is space, next to your plant(s) that is suffering from gnats. I had 2 indoor open terrariums that had gnats, which kept multiplying, hence bought these to see if I could rid them. First, delivery was awesome, came on a Sunday morning without extra delivery fees. First 3-4 days: It will not be obvious to you at first if these pouches are making a difference. I couldn't see any of the nematodes and it was not obvious whether the little balls inside the pouches were the nematodes and, if so, how they are going to work. 1.5 weeks: I noticed that there were noticeably fewer (maybe 30% less?) gnats in my 2 terrariums. Since the gnats had previously multiplied at a rate that was noticeable every 3 or so days, I thought maybe the nematodes were working. The pouches didn't change in appearance. You are supposed to keep them damp, which I did. After a whole 2 weeks or so from applying these pouches: - In 1 terrarium (with 2 tiny plants inside), the gnats were gone! Amazing since that terrarium had been suffering from gnats for at least a month and my plants had visibly lost vigor due to those lousy insects. - in the other terrarium, there were no gnats flying about, though upon looking closely there was a few still inside on the soil. This was a big improvement since for that one, I had been killing around 7-20 gnats PER NIGHT before the pouches came. - I still had a good number of pouches left, which you are supposed to keep at a certain temperature range. Since I was worried that the pouches were too cold to keep in my frig but normal temperature in my house was too warm to keep these pouches "effective" long term, I decided to use up the remaining pouches on my (cilantro) plants outside on my deck that had gnats. - overall conclusion: these nematodes work. After they are done, you will know because the little balls look "dried up" (as opposed to moist balls). These nematodes do not move or look like animals at all, so you may wonder what the heck it was that you bought. However, it was clear they were effective because my gnats were gone and they did not just disappear by themselves. You just have to be patient; they will not work overnight but will need about 5-10 days. Be sure to keep the pouches moist. Last word: my terrarium that was especially previously gnat-infested became 95% gnat-free, but my plant never recovered, so after about another 3 weeks (in addition to 2 weeks w/ these pouches), I decided to give up on the wilted plant and put a new plant, with new soil, in the terrarium. So, lesson learned is to try to not have overly watered plants in the first place, otherwise curing becomes bothersome or not effective regardless.

I had a HUGE fungus gnat problem. I know that sticky traps are only half the battle because those just kill the adults. You need to kill the larvae that turn into adults and start the whole disaster all over again. So, I bought these with skepticism but was so happy that it helped...A LOT! The plants with the packets in them removed at least 95%, it not more, than the fungus gnats in that plant. It is soo nice to be able to water my plant and not have a ton of annoying little black things flying out and all around the place. I did need the sticky traps as well, but using this in combination with the sticky traps all but eliminated my fungus gnat problem. <3

UPDATE: These nematodes worked at first but unfortunately after a couple of weeks the fungus gnats were back so clearly they did not have enough nematodes to eat all the fungus gnat larvae. I followed the instructions to the letter. I had two packs on one plant which has a pot that is about 8 inches in diameter and one pack each on my three other plants which have pots that are 5 inches in diameter. The plants are all in the same room and are the only plants in the house and they reside in a room in which the door is always shut. I did two applications, 5 days apart, making sure to give them a little water each day to keep them moist. In between the applications I had the nematodes stored in the refrigerator (as you're supposed to do). I've had to place an order for Scanmask Beneficial Nematodes, which I've used twice previously and in those cases the fungus gnat problem was eradicated quickly and permanently. These were cheaper and I have such a small amount of soil that needs to be treated so I figured I would try these. Too bad it ended up being a waste of money. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I bought a few indoor house plants recently and they were infested with fungus gnats. I put one pack of the beneficial nematodes on each plant and watered the packet and the fungus gnats were gone within two days. I tried to kill as many as I could see flying around after installing the packets. I picked the packets up off of the soil after 5 days and noticed the packets were empty so clearly the nematodes migrate from the packet into the soil after being watered. I had purchased beneficial nematodes twice previously from Amazon many years ago and they came in a Styrofoam cup mixed in with soil. The advantage of having them shipped in soil is you can spread them over many more plants. For my purposes, the nematodes in these little packets packaged inside of a plastic "egg" was convenient as I only had four plants that needed attention. If you have more plants you will probably want to find nematodes that are shipped in a container with soil so you can apply a small amount to each plant. The nematodes are very efficient and really wipe out the fungus gnat larvae quickly as long as they're alive when you get them.

These do work. After 2 applications for me...the fungus gnats were all gone. I think that I may have needed 2 applications because the first set I got were already expired...and I did not notice till after I put them on the plants. I tried both techniques of opening the bags and sprinkling them, or just placing a bag on the surface of the soil for bigger pots. Make sure to look for expiration date printed on the brown plastic ball, before you open it . It may be older than the sticker on the outside says. One plus side, is that if you do notice it is expired, and tell the seller, they will let you return it unused.

Best stuff I have ever used ! We have tried many different items for the darn soil flies and nothing works. I saw this and read the reviews and thought I’d try it. So glad I did !!!! It really does work and so easy to use ! I recommend you open 2 pouches per pot and spread all around the top of soil . I recommend this product 👍👍👍

The Pot Poppers were the only thing that got rid of the fungus gnats. I had spent over $30 on other products that didn’t work until my friend researched this and recommended it to me. Now we both swear by it and recommend it to everyone!

It's hard to really gauge the effectiveness of these things, but I can say they aren't easy to apply. I put them on top of the soil as instructed one evening and by next morning the crows had taken about 1/4 of them away or pecked them open and left them strewn about on the deck. I hid them under a bit of dirt after that, but being summer I had trouble keeping them moist for the week they need to disperse. I watered them every morning but by the 3rd or 4th day most were dried up. The bags don't seem to degrade. I am going to buy a 2nd one and try again, trying desperately to control the fungus gnats and weevils on my lettuce planters. The round container is cute but seems like you could just ship these in a smaller ziplock bag.

Have to wait next summer to see the effect.