What's the proper level of moisture in flake soil? I'm having a big problem with nematodes. So far, none are bothering the larvae, but they do break down the soil faster and make a funky smell. Since all my containers are now in the air conditioning, there is moisture condensing above the soil line and lid. After a couple weeks, I have LOTs of nematodes on the sides and grouping in the water drops. Soil wrings out dry. I've made at least 100lbs from Traeger this year, and I'm not sure why there are so many nematodes hatching out.
Flake soil moisture
- Thread starter hadogenes
- Start date
If the soil wrings out dry and just clumps, its fine in my experience. Depending on the temps and humidity in the room, you get condensation on the lid and sides. For me, it hasn't been a problem and hasn't affected my adults or larvae. I just wipe it off when I open the container. Why lots of nematodes, that I don't know. For me, pests seem to just appear and disappear and I can never quite figure it out. I haven't had any of the pests that I get bother my breeding so I don't get too worried. I just sterilize the substrate. I microwave my substrate so it gets super hot and then let it cool for a day. I know others disagree with microwaving and say it kills important bacteria, etc but I have not experienced any negative affects when I compare it to other methods. As always, this is just my experience with the species that I breed but others may disagree, etc. It seems like we all have different ways of breeding and what we consider important or not important. I figure as long as I'm getting large adults and multiple generations, what I'm doing is ok. The pests that bother me the most are fungus gnats! They are a huge nuisance when flying around the room and in the house. To avoid those, I try to make sure everything is sealed air tight and then I cover the big air holes with weed cloth or for larvae, use only pin holes small enough that they can't get in.
Goliathus
Pachnoda
Do you have decayed leaves as part of your substrate composition? I often used to get nematodes when I used leaf litter, but since I switched to 100% flake soil, they've disappeared. Yes - nematodes, like fungus gnat larvae, can really degrade the quality of the substrate if they're present in large numbers - they can rapidly reduce it to a useless paste. You can freeze substrate solid (for at least several days) to get rid of nematode infestation. Fungus gnats are a more difficult problem since the adults are airborne, and even if you eliminate the larvae through sterilization (by freezing or by heat), the substrate can eventually become recolonized.
Thank you both for all the great feedback. No decayed leaves, but I did have a couple gallons of really old shitake mushroom oak compost (CCC Mushroom in Rainbow) that I "seeded" into my initial flake soil bins. The mushroom compost sat in a bin for a couple years in a planter on the side of my house. I think that may have tainted it. I'm going to test a microwaved batch and a frozen batch to see which best eliminates them. Moving forward, I'll just make straight sawdust flake and not mix into the old stuff. Although, not a total cure, try some of the sticky Catchmaster Bug & Fly Clear Window Fly Traps. I had the gnat problem in my emperor scorpion tank and the sticky traps greatly knocked down the population. My wife uses them high up in the windows in the house. It's amazing how many little bugs, flies, etc that they get. Bugs we never even see around the house.