Fungus Gnat Eggs?

[WeeHomestead]

Hi All --
I'm a new gardener with two 3' x 8' raised beds (18" deep, built on concrete). I'm growing a variety of vegetables, the vast majority of which have begun to sprout over the past week or so.

We've gotten a LOT of rain over the past 3 days and, as I was tending the beds this morning, I was finding oodles of eggs. Some I've identified as future red worms, which makes sense because I dumped a load of compost out there last weekend (we vermicompost). But in addition to the very small reddish-brown, teardrop-shaped worm eggs, there are also tons of larger, yellowish round eggs that I feel relatively certain are fungus gnats.

I'm worried about the gnat larvae getting to my vulnerable little plants once the eggs hatch and would like to nip this in the bud, so to speak. I've found methods for getting rid of the larvae and the adults but I haven't been able to find a solution for removing the eggs. It seems crazy to pick them all out individually (though that's my plan if there isn't a more efficient solution).

Thanks for your help!

[rainbowgardener]

Why are you thinking they are fungus gnat eggs? Fungus gnats are very small and their eggs are tiny.

[WeeHomestead]

Thanks for responding!

Much googling brought me to a pic of these bad boys: [url]https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryjst/481231555/[/url] -- this is definitely what I've got. I've also seen a handful of gnats flying about, which is new (as is the garden), and the conditions (excessive moisture from lots of recent rain) seem right.

What do you think?

[Dillbert]

I don't know what eggs you have, but fungus gnats there are not.

https://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG136/fly1.html

Adult-
The flies are slender with comparatively long legs 46 and antennae. They are greyish-black and about 2.5 mm long.

Egg-
The yellowish white tiny eggs are 0.2 mm long and 0.1 mm wide.

Larva-
Dark winged fungus gnat maggots have shiny black head capsules and white bodies. The last body segment is lobed and helps push the insect along. Mature larvae are about 5.5 mm long.

Pupa-
Initially white. pupae become dark shortly before the adult emerges.

here's the only photo I could come up with:
https://www.arkive.org/fungus-gnat/arachnocampa-luminosa/image-G83060.html

the magnification is not specified.

the biggest dimension of an egg is 0.2 mm = 0.0078xxx inches which is about the thickness of 2 sheets of 20 lb copier paper.

edit:
did find another photo - if you know how big a fungus gnat is, this photo of some very old eggs puts it in perspective . . .
https://gnat.amberdepot.com/fossil-dominican-amber-insect-fungus-gnat-with-bunch-of-eggs-03018.html

[rainbowgardener]

Those are not eggs at all. Someone on Flicker mislead you. Those are actually little balls of liquid fertilizer that they put in the potting soil. They do splash a little liquid out when you pop them. We've had this discussion a few times here.

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=205358#205358

This one had some discussion of different possibilities, but came to the conclusion, which has since been verified, that it is the slow release liquid fertilizer.

That's not to say you might not have fungus gnats, which often do come with potting soil, but they hatched from tiny almost invisible eggs, not from your fertilizer balls. If you do have fungus gnats, type that into the Search the Forum Keyword box to find lots already written here about what to do about them.

[WeeHomestead]

Thanks for the idea! After much more research, I've determined the "eggs" are actually egg CAPSULES. I suppose I left out a few key pieces of information in my initial post: the soil in the beds is all organic -- it's 50% organic topsoil and 50% compost; I also added, a week before the eggs showed up, a load of our household compost (we vermicompost), along with some of the worms who call our bin home.

I've learned A LOT over the past week about the reproductive habits of worms, and was fascinated to find this article: https://www.wormsetc.com/worms-etc-blog/ and several others like it. I have no doubt that these capsules are actually what's present in my garden, and I'm thrilled to welcome a new generation of worms!

Thanks again for your help!