Thought I'd post this beneficial nematode info on both forums:

Was reading an article in Greenhouse Management magazine this Spring or Summer that mentioned the work of some younger folks in that industry and saw a mention that a Dr. Allison Justice had done a lot of work with beneficial nematodes while at Clemson University.
The article also mentioned that she sold Starter Kits for breeding your own beneficial nematodes.
Here is part of what she wrote to me when I requested more info :

" I've been researching entomopathogenic nematodes for about 4 years now.  I've developed a system for growers to rear their own nematodes inside wax worms.  This is opposed to buying millions of dehydrated/dormant/not very active nematodes that are produced synthetically more or less similar to how beer is fermented.  It is a more natural way of producing nematodes and in addition they are more infective (ready to eat) when they are applied.  Thus far I've been working with growers who use them mainly for fungus gnat larvae in propagation.  I provide a mixture of 4 species of nematodes that not only attack fungus gnat larvae but also thrips and shore fly.  I've recently acquired even more species and specifically one, Heterorhabditis marelatus, has shown to be very aggressive against slugs/snails.  The link is a publication from UF if you would like to read about nematodes in general http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/nematode/entomopathogenic_nematode.htm.  The species I currently have are: H. indica, H. bacteriophora, S. feltiae, S. carpocapsae, Steinernema glaseri, and Heterorhabditis marelatus.  As you can see they attack a high diversity of pests but since my specialty is in greenhouse crops those pests are in which I've focused.

Thanks for sharing this. More ecological options to fight the war are usually a good thing.

Thanks Kerry, those fungus gnats are dang frustrating.  This year I experimented by rooted a Nero 600M cutting in an organic free medium that I made and it went very well.  I watched the gnat attack occur in the MG potting soil I used, but there was zero attack on the neighboring experiment. 

The medium was a batch of biochar that I made from wood pellets and that was quenched in water containing a plant based surfactant.  This makes medium that's evenly sized and relatively small, acts like a sponge and drains perfectly....impossible to overwater.  I added some weak soluble fertilizer and that Nero 600M has done great.  The only issue is that it dries out faster than the MG potting soil so I had to keep up my attention on watering regularly.  I think I'll do a bigger batch that I crush a little so that the air channels between particles are a little smaller and see how that goes.  Other than needing extra watering (twice a week) I was really happy with it.  Blending in with potting soil works nice too.

Follow up that will be of interest to the bee keepers among us : just noticed that on her website  http://www.hopegreenhouses.com  that Dr. Justice now has nematodes available that also combat small hive beetle.