When infective juveniles leave the host, they move around in the soil, searching for a new host to infect. Soil texture, moisture, and temperature all affect dispersal and infection. Heavy soils impair movement, with less dispersal occurring as the percentage of silt and clay increases in the soil. These same factors all affect survival as well. These nematodes occur naturally in soil, but not at high enough levels to provide effective pest control.
Inundative releases are necessary to reduce insect populations below economic thresholds.
In some cases recycling through host insects will occur to minimize the need for subsequent applications. Some attempts have been made to utilized this and other species of nematodes against foliar pests, but problems of desiccation, exposure to sunlight and high temperatures that are fatal to exposed nematodes have limited such applications.