Soil Mites.........seriously?

[bali_man]

if you've seen flyers and you're describing the quantity as 10-20 per sq inch, to me sounds like root aphids..... thats how the cycle goes. when populations reach a certain "critical" level, all of a sudden flyers emerge. The flyers are the easiest to kill. even if you put 1 mL of neem in a liter of water and spray all the foliage you'll kill em on contact. Once you verify that they are aphids.....you'll have a lot of work ahead of you. So start planning just in case......

BM

 

[Geoffrey Boycot]

And how do i identify if these flyers are aphids or fungus gnats? theyre still squashed against my wall for ID purposes.

Can I look at the roots? sacrifice a plant for the cause?

I live in a forest and the window is open for ventilation, so some fliers are inevitable.

 

[MynameStitch]

knock one out, but not squash it, like take fly swatter and hit it out of the air, but not hard enough to kill it and see if you can get a picture of it and post it here.

 

[skoobie dew]

really

really

If your plants aren't affected then you have some kind of harmless soil mite. You might have hypoaspis miles, or some kind of other soil mite. There's hundreds of these that are harmless.

If you have root aphids flying around they are EASY to spot. Fungus gnats are poor flyers. They kinda lope around. Flying root aphids (witch are supposed to only migrate in cold weather) fly like normal insects.

You probably have something that is harmless, but you might want to get some predatory nematodes. They ARE harmless & should fix the problem.

 

[SupraSPL]

You mentioned that they move much faster than spider mites which is typical for a predator, probably Hypoaspis Miles. I have had them for about 18 months also. I do reuse the soil and their population is stable. They come to the surface when you water and can help control fungus gnat larvae invasions, but it helps a ton if you kill the adult FG if you see any flying around.

I suspect that hypoaspis miles can hurt the occasional clone as I have found them inside rockwool cubes of dead or dying clones one in a blue moon. Overall that is a small price to pay for natural control of FG IMO. I try to keep the rockwool away from any sources of the soil mites for the first few days of rooting just in case the Hypoaspis get a lil overzealous.

 

[sandman221]

do the bugs in the soil jump if u stick ur finger by them. if so most likely springtails and they are good for your soil. they help breakdown organic material. should no effect plants at all.

on a side note i believe i have red mites? ive only seen 2 and killed both immidiatly and cut off the fan leaves they were on. might just scrap the plant as its a 2" mutant easyryder and has yet to flower and the other easyryder is shooting hairs like crazy and is 6"-8" with some pretty rad lsting. havent noticed them on the other 3 plants in the cab. is there anything safe to use on flowering plants?

 

[SupraSPL]

Soil mites rarely climb onto the stems or leaves. If you saw red mites on the leaves they could be spider mites that were overwintering or exposed to cool temps.

If the plant is small you can kill the adults manually and spray Neem Oil at 1/2 strength (or full strength then rinse). Then hit it again in a week or so to kill any hatchlings. I used this on a plant that was 7 weeks into flower and it did no harm. I did try to avoid getting spray on the trichs where possible.

 

[vStagger Leev]

I'm pretty damn sure i have these hypoaspis mites too. My plants are all fuckin stoked to be alive! but the damn things are crawling everywere... i'm talkin thousands! Though they do not climb up the plants or seem to be doing any damage at all. I have had them for a few weeks thinking they were root aphids, but then none of them were flying, so i did a bit more research and i think they are the hypoaspis's. I keep my grow room immaculately cleen and free from debris, and i checked the soil i get " Roots Organics " and the soil is also crawling with them in the bag. I assume they are harmless mites, as they have done no damage to my plants from what i see. But it sounds like these little shits are acutally the shit!

 

[Bongstar420]

I can't determine that they are a problem for Cannabis, but they cause population explosions of predatory soil mites.

I frequently find a hundred predators under a pot. The mite grows extensively on in the compost. I have more problems in the grow with 1 findable root aphid than if I find hundreds of bulb mite.

If you can't find damage proof. Do not treat. GAH

Wow this thread is taking off. Thanks for all the help guys Now after looking at the posted info I decided to take another look at these mites and did some searching and think I found out what they could be. I think they are called bulb mites. They get their name from being commonly found on bulbs and are found in the soil. Does any one have any experience with bulb mites? What should I do? Here are a couple pics I found.
View Image View Image View Image

 

[troutman]

I think I have soil mites also.

I mainly see them after I water and they don't seem to be affecting the plants.
I haven't see any on the plants either. I am almost sure that I got them because
I used some forest soil as an soil inoculator a while back. No doubt that's where
they came from.

I do have a microscope and will try to take a close pic of them tomorrow.

I'm hoping they are Oribatid mites or Gamasid mites like on this webpage.

http://www.massey.ac.nz/~maminor/mites.html

 

[metsäkana]

https://vid.me/ZWNe
soil mites reds i need bether camera i can also try to take vid/picture from white ones and springtails
im pretty sure reds are like predators eating smaller ones

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these ones im not sure...
they hang on groups on pots pictures are taken from lowest bud of seeded outdoorsemiautoplant.. and same seedroom was transfered some outdoor plants so im pretty sure these ones came there,i did not see them on leafs or other buds.. some soil mites can also feed on live plant.. im pretty sure these just climed up and stuck on resin.. i take video of them when i have time






i think bulb and broadmites look most like white soilmites..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbsll8ZMX4g

 

[GrnEyes]

Thanks for posting this here. Definitely helpful.

 

[sticky367]

great info, I have a worm pile crawling with soil mites of one kind or another. It has kinda made me not want to throw any on my plants. You guys think I should go for it or play it safe?

 

[Stickybred420]

i see these little white mites in my soil all the time. among other little bugs. in an organic setting i see no issues. even in hydro t probly isn't a hige deal. from what ive gathered they are just decomposers attracted to decaying organic matter. they get their munch on, shit it out for the plants and then breed, die and then turn into frass. root aphids are one thing but these little guys are good. i find they really like starches and carbs. i plant cover crops in my 10 gal pots and any seeds that dont take or die before fully germinating get absolutely ravaged by these little guys. i wish i had a pic. it looked like the dead seed was covered in trichs haha. in my experience they have done no damage. they are part of the soil food web for me. im pretty sure they eat dead earthworms too. they leave the living ones alone. i may be wrong but i think they even may be a predatory speicies to smaller mites/microbeasties. it also seems that they dont make an appearance unless theres ample moisture. like right after i water i can see a sudden surge of them appearing on the surface, they get their grub on before it gets too dry and then recede back in the soil to do more soil mite things..haha.. all interesting diologue here. that's my .02

 

[MJPassion]

Soil mites aren't the bad guys!

They actually HELP to feed your plants.

 

[sticky367]

now here is a f'ed up question. Would it be beneficial throw my organic home made worm castings in a soil mix that is coco, lava rock, and osmocote+? AKA the least organic soil mix ever lol. I imagine the osmocote isn't great for the micro herds and decomposers, but would do it more good than harm?

the thing that makes me wary is that if I throw the castings in there, and they are full of an eco system of decomposers, predators, and even unbeneficial organisms. Then, the osmocote and my shitty soil plus a lack of food causes the eco system to come to a screeching halt, is it possible for some type of bad organisms to take hold of the plants?

I don't want to be the one adding in the bug that kills my crop. So would it be better to add in the worm castings or skip it?

 

[sticky367]

Soil mites aren't the bad guys!

They actually HELP to feed your plants.

Agreeed, I've had them in my plants and nothing bad happened. Thanks for the reassurance.