50 Million Live Beneficial Nematodes Hb - Soil Pest Exterminator

For the past three years prior to 2019, my back yard was progressively dying and reached about 40% dead last Spring despite yearly applying the well known eponymous grub control product at the appropriate time and application rate . My order of 50 million HB from Bug Sales came within a few days and then were refrigerated overnight to wait for the anticipated rain which was during the second week of September 2018. Application was easily done by mixing the packet into a gallon of water, stirring well before each quart sample was poured into my hose sprayer applicator . Each quart was hosed onto about 2,500 square feet. It was applied just before sundown during a fine misty rain with a dark overcast sky. As I finished spraying, the rain came down in earnest for a couple hours and continued on/off raining for three days thereafter . Perfect conditions .For the remainder of Sept., Oct., Nov., I could not detect any improvement in grass recovery . Then at the end of Sept. for the first time I switched away from THE big brand chemical salt based fertilizer to a slow nitrogen release organic fertilizer which contained beneficial mycorrhizia and a low % of potassium ( no phosphorous ). This Spring my grasses' dormancy end was about 10 days slower than my neighbors - all of whom use chemical salt based fertilizers or a lawn service product which directly feeds the grass but does not encourage a healthy root system. Three weeks out of dormancy, and I could see those formerly dead areas pushing up grass ! Then, I applied the same organic fertilizer just before a rain and now I can report that the whole lawn is now dark green, getting thicker and some of the bare spots have new rhizomes popping up . Sure, the nitrogen in the fertilizer did green up the grass that was growing but the mycorrhyzia were re-establishing healthier roots and thus taking a little more time, but none of this would have happened without the nematodes preventing the usual grub invasion which made it possible for a healthier grass root system to be re-established . Great product !

I waited to give this review. We had ants, termites and fleas we needed to deal with. We got the Hb and the Sc verities. The Hb is listed as good for termite queens, ants, and adult fleas as well as many others. Hb stands for Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. I applied as soon as we received the nematodes and used them in a bit more concentrated then then was directed. The termites we had in an old tree and one wall haven't been seen since. The cat didn't have any fleas to speak of for ages despite this being a major flea area. The ants have been our major pest. Since we moved here we had been feeding them borax and sugar or Aspartame. Despite continually poisoning them they just kept coming. Found out we have Argentine Ants that have multiple queens making it next to impossible to wipe them out. Long story short the ants disappeared for months. Not a single ant for months. We couldn't believe it hardly. Talked to the neighbors who all have ants and have been poisoning and or trapping them with no end of the battle in sight. They all wanted to know about the beneficial nematodes. At least two neighbors are planning on getting some after hearing about us not having them for almost a full year. We applied it in the middle of May and only now next January are we finally seeing ants again. We will be buying more in a month or two as the weather gets a bit warmer. Worked incredibly well. UPDATE 2018: Still loving these things. I have been getting more every 1 to 1 1/2 years and have always had them arrive alive and healthy judging by how quickly the bugs disappear. I really recommend these if your having issues with the pests these are listed as attacking. UPDATE 2020: Just ordered and applied another batch. Still love them. I still feel that these are amazing and can’t recommend them enough. Buy them...seriously just get these if you have ants or termites or other pests. If you have fleas get the sc variety as those are the best for fleas. Those also have been wonderful. Did I mention that I am really impressed with these nematodes? UPDATE 2025: Just made another order of these as those little pesky ants are back. Still incredibly impressed with these nematodes. I still recommend them to everyone who mentions having issues with ants. I had last bought these in 2023 and again in the spring of 2025. I had been seeing ants in multiple rooms and the day after spraying around the outside base of our house and yard I haven't seen an ant. These are the only thing that truly works from my experience fighting ants. I also like getting the Sc-Steinernema carpocapsae beneficial nematodes for our yard. Those work great for fleas and some caterpillars.

Worked like a charm on the fungus gnats & our plants are so much happier now

There is no way to tell if these are alive or not and will they work? I used insecticide also.

Used it indoors and out.... Outside, we attempted to get rid of grubs and other soil critters to reduce the moles. Didn't seem to be working - but it's hard to measure. HOWEVER, I also applied it to the indoor potted plants to get rid of fungus gnats - and it didn't work - AT ALL. Had to get rid of the 'infected' plants. GO WITH SCANMASK! We've used it before and it worked amazingly! The difference is - we couldn't just excrete them into water and use the hand-sprayer (which is why we tried this one this year). The Scanmask version is in a type of mixture that has to be placed onto the soil by hand (similar to very small mulch - but too large for spraying; wouldn't go as far). It's worth the extra effort though.

Seems to have helped kill a termite colony. I plan to re apply in the fall.

If you don’t want a 1000 different bugs in your yard gone for the whole summer then don’t buy this product. I use it every year works great I tell people to follow the directions to the letter or you end up kill the poor thing when you get them put it in the fridge not the freezer……

I bought several varieties of beneficial nematodes early spring of 2020. I applied them as directed. It virtually eliminated all the Japense Beetles (aka June bugs) in my yard. I used to collect hundreds in the beetle trap. This year, I had no beetles in a trap (with new attractant). Saw none. But I still had tons of flea beetles and the cucumber beetles won again. Flea beetles are mostly annoying. Cucumber beetles end up killing my cucumbers as they transmit bacterium wilt. I did grow a disease resistant variety that survived longer, but my favorite Suyo Long cucumber succumbs way too early. I will try again spring of 2021.