Im going to drop this here as far as what category.
Like many of us I mix my own soil, kind of. I use a base of bagged soil and Coast of Maine is my fav and had a 2 cubic foot bag of their off brand Master Nursery Bumper Crop soil left from last fall and I found a local source for Bar Harbor which is my preferred bagged soil and I used 2 CF of that and add gypsum, Wollastonite. I still have some left over neem and alphalfa meal I have been using up until its gone.
Anyway after mixing up and putting in a 30ish gallon plastic trash can stored in my utility room off the garage as usual.
One of the bags must have had some fungus gnats in it because I hadnt touched it for a few weeks and we started noticing fungus gnats near the kitchen sink and laundry room sink etc, but none in the grow closet or tent or moms. I have always used predator mites in my grow area and have none and they keep it that way.
Couldnt figure it out until last week when I had to put salt in the water softener in the utility room where soil is kept along with furnace etc.
Soon as I opened the door it was shock as to how many gnats there were. 
So I immediately ordered a container of https://www.naturesgoodguys.com/collections/fungus-gnat-control/products/hypoaspis-miles-predatory-mites-12-500-insects?variant=39911211729087
Plus I have one of these from a while back https://www.amazon.com/fruit-fly-traps-for-indoors-mosquito-trap-bug-zapper/dp/B07H2JGSM6/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=H3GJAXHHPG6S&keywords=bug%2Blight%2Bindoor&qid=1690045734&sprefix=bug%2Bli%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
Let the light bug catcher in the area next to soil and within 24 hours I had replaced the sticky paper in the bottom twice and it looked like I spilled a can of black pepper on it. Fuck. Anyway the Hypoaspis miles - Stratiolaelaps scimitus - Predatory Mites arrived, an estimated 12,000 per their claim, and I put 90% of them on top of the soil and sprinkled a few in grow area for added insurance since I routinely check soils in grow area to make sure they are still tromping around doing their job.
As of today the gnats are being beaten back, none in house now but still a battle in the utility room. I put a petri dish of soil from the can under the microscope and predator mites are having an all you can eat buGGfet but I saw something under the scope that really concerned me. Not sure what it was but I did get a few moments of vid on my phone. Plus a pic of the catchy trap. So after the long winded tale does anyone have a clue what the big monster is ?? Its easy to see the predators running around in the soil doing their thing but I think Im going to get some Nematodes to add since they attack and eat a lot more different bugs including aphids etc. Sorry for the moving clip and I am on my way to pick up a micro SD disk to plug in and take pics and clips directly from the image on display.
And before someone asks the microscope is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VPP5G59?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
CRAP won’t let me upload 60 second clip from my Iphone. Just used a single still of the soil. The big blob in the middle is some kind of larvae or ? It was moving around like a worm from Dune the movie. The micro SD disk will record in jpeg format though so Im going to keep checking samples and may catch one again. Whatever it is the size of it dwarfs the predator mites and way to big to be a gnat larvae.Gotta run and stop by to pick up micro SD card on the way.
Bummer I cant upload a mp4 clip. And Im not going to go to the loading up somewhere and linking it. Bummer.
](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VPP5G59?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details!%5BIMG_9331%7C375x500%5D(upload://cmRyeSPznWbfldhCrLAx1SYGsp9.jpeg)){kind=link}