What kind of bug is this, and is it damaging my plants?

[InjectTruth]

So recently, I moved into a new spot after having a battle with spider mites and whiteflies.

Everything has been growing good, but I noticed something while pulling dead leaves off the ground.

There are tons of little tiny bugs crawling around the surface of my soil. they don't fly, they are very small (1mm). The closest match I could come up with in the Sick Plants Guide were symphilids, but these bugs are always on the surface, not only when I water.

Also, they do not resemble centipedes, but rather very minute ticks. My eyes are no good, and I dont have glasses, so its hard for me to see how many legs, but it appears to be 6.

I have treated with crushed up mosquito dunks sprinkled over the surface several times, but it doesnt appear to have done anything.

Im afraid these monsters are chewing away at the roots, as my plants are showing signs of deficiency despite a regular fertilizer program of the Fox Farm soil trio.

Im going to let the coir dry out a little more than usual, and hit it with a good dose of SM-90 to see if that does anything, but this has got me very worried.

I got rid of all my old equipment and cleaned the hell out of my new apt after my year long mite/whitefly battle. This is morale crushing. What else can I possibly do to keep the fricking varmints away!

 

[killa-bud]

fungus gnats maybe?

some people say that they will hurt your roots,i had them once and noticed no ill effects on my plants....

 

[Vash]

Try sprinkling diatomaceous earth (DE) on the top of your soil. Make sure it's not wet when you do it. Supposedly the DE cuts through the soft bodies of the insects rendering them helpless. I'd do further research on it to see if this will work for you.

 

[InjectTruth]

Definitely not fungus gnats, I have had experiences with them before

Yeah, Vash, thats what I just went out and got actually (DE). I figured this will be a good remedy since I dont know exactly what kind of bug it is yet, and it actually contains trace elements.

You mention not applying when the soil is wet, why is that?

 

[Vash]

This gives you more insight.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=2262

 

[Yes4Prop215]

It might be fungus knats in their wingless form, i have problems with these guys too, they look like giant brown spider mites, they have 6 legs. These bastards are a PITA, i have yet to fully kill them, i used neem oil and pyrithium, at two week intervals. WHen i spray, i get hundreds popping out the bottom of the pot dead.

 

[InjectTruth]

wingless fungus gnats, really? Ive never heard of that, but your description sounds like what Im dealing with. I figured the BT should take care of them, no? Are they a different species or something?

 

[DocLeaf]

1) Allow the top of the soil surface to dry out.

2) Start watering from the base of the pots!!

3) Identify the pest : it does sound like soil flies / fungus gnats. These insects start life in a larval state,, whereby they feed on dead and living root matter and nutrient deposits in the soil subsurface. After which they pupate and emerge as adults, spread their wings and fly off to lay more eggs in damp soils.

Hope this helps

 

[Yes4Prop215]

how do you effectively KILL them in the soil?? Thats my problem, i can spray all the neem oil and pyrithium i want but none of it actually gets down into the subsurface to kill them. how can i fight them in the soil?

 

[Clackamas Coot]

how do you effectively KILL them in the soil?? Thats my problem, i can spray all the neem oil and pyrithium i want but none of it actually gets down into the subsurface to kill them. how can i fight them in the soil?

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of neem seed meal as a top dressing. This is what is left over after the neem seed oil is pressed out. It's widely used as a fertilizer in India and China and carries a good amount of "N" as well as "K" macro and micro-nutrients.

The fertilizer company, Down-To-Earth, has neem seed meal and it runs about $12.00 for a 6-lb. box.

You'll be rid of gnats and anything else crawling around your soil. This product will not adversely affect the micro-herd if you're an organic grower.

HTH

CC

 

[Yes4Prop215]

Pirate mentioned to me in another thread something called Spinosad, dilute this in PH balanced water and water your plants with it, it will kill the larvae.


I am gonna be using a three prong attack, i am gonna try the Spinosad watering, then heavily spray neem oil and pyrthium on the surface, hopefully this will do the trick.

 

[N707]

So recently, I moved into a new spot after having a battle with spider mites and whiteflies.

Everything has been growing good, but I noticed something while pulling dead leaves off the ground.

There are tons of little tiny bugs crawling around the surface of my soil. they don't fly, they are very small (1mm). The closest match I could come up with in the Sick Plants Guide were symphilids, but these bugs are always on the surface, not only when I water.

Also, they do not resemble centipedes, but rather very minute ticks. My eyes are no good, and I dont have glasses, so its hard for me to see how many legs, but it appears to be 6.

I have treated with crushed up mosquito dunks sprinkled over the surface several times, but it doesnt appear to have done anything.

Im afraid these monsters are chewing away at the roots, as my plants are showing signs of deficiency despite a regular fertilizer program of the Fox Farm soil trio.

Im going to let the coir dry out a little more than usual, and hit it with a good dose of SM-90 to see if that does anything, but this has got me very worried.

I got rid of all my old equipment and cleaned the hell out of my new apt after my year long mite/whitefly battle. This is morale crushing. What else can I possibly do to keep the fricking varmints away!

If they look like either of these they are great for the health of your soil, by either predating on baddies (the orange guy is a H. miles predatory mite) or by being detrivores 9the white guy is a spring tail, which feed off decaying matter and keep your soil clean/healthy).

both of these critters range from .1-1.5mm depending on the stage of growth they are in and live within and just on teh surface of the soil. They are often miscontrued as bad and the efforts put into removing them do alot of unecassary damage. Remeber they are TINY, so it is hard to distinguish them. The white guys (top pic) are the springtails and jump if you blow on them. Hope this helps bro.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

I just got some gnatrol, diluted 25ml per gallon of PH balanced water. THe gnatrol makes the solution PH drop to like 5.0, so make sure you adjust it back up.

I just watered with the gnatrol, i will update tommorow or the day after to see results.

 

[N707]

Trying to identify bgs is nearly worthless with just a description. I would'nt put anythign in my garden unless I have a very firm identification of it. I see so many guys in the hydro shop that have bug issues and explain them. Before they even are sure of what they are dealing wiht they are having products and remedies suggested by others. Not to say they are wrong, but not being sure of what is in there is wreckless and a waste of time, possibly even your whole harvest. I would google the following using the image search) to try and match them up;

Predatory mites
Parasitic mites
Springtails
Soil fauna
Soil dwellling fauna
Seriously like 70% of bug ccases with my friends terrariums and gardens are mis identified, even by veterans due to assumtion. There really should be a picture uide with comparison photos of all possible critters that could be in the soil and what they feed on. Not just a list of ways to combat mites and knats as tehre are hundreds of types of mites and very similar looking critters that are benificial.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

here are some pics of wingless fungus gnats.

 

[InjectTruth]

Well, hopefully they were not beneficial (growth seemed more vigorous before they appeared anyway), as I have sprinkled some DE on the tops of my containers. So far this appears to have done the trick.

However, the picture of the bennie mite (H. miles) looks similar to what I was dealing with. I couldnt imagine being lucky enough to actually have a beneficial insect infestation, but i guess crazier things have happened.

 

[Core]

i think its springtails ...almost shure..push the link in my sig and you can compare bugs....most of'm are highlighted

 

[N707]

Well, hopefully they were not beneficial (growth seemed more vigorous before they appeared anyway), as I have sprinkled some DE on the tops of my containers. So far this appears to have done the trick.

However, the picture of the bennie mite (H. miles) looks similar to what I was dealing with. I couldnt imagine being lucky enough to actually have a beneficial insect infestation, but i guess crazier things have happened.

Lol, yeah that would figure woudn't it...you nuke the good ones...lol.
If you've ever purchased a house plant from a store, there is a very good chance it came with a Hypophosis (spelling?) mite and springtails in it. Springs and the genus hyp. are very resiliant and prolific. There general rule is if you use most types of organic soil or potting soil in the room, youll have one of the two I mentioned. I actually culture springtails and subsequently culture H. miles that somehow got into my cultures, go figure.
Hope your plants perk up bro, good luck!

 

[pokerfish]

Hey IT, got a question for you... which coir product are you using? About 7 months ago I was using a combo of Canna, Atami, CanCan Croutons & some Oregonism. Now, one of those 4 sources introduced a variety of "soil mites" into my upstairs/semi-CAE environment. I carefully maintain protective measures to ensure nothing enters my garden- never, ever had fungus gnats, spider mites, thrips, or the other harmful pests. I do have "soil mites", however... things that only live/reproduce in the soil. NO other way they got into my garden. I'm pretty sure they came from the CC Croutons, through a process of elimination...

Anyway, if you do have them, several different species will eventually develop/manifest...

Collembola= .2-1.5mm in length, very white, elongated with several leg sets (looks like microscopic centipede) but has an appendage in the middle of its belly. When you water (they tend to migrate toward the top of coir regardless), they are like lice all over the top of the coir & literally jump up 4-6" in the air by use of that "arm" on its belly. I think this is what you are beginning to notice.

Had a single variety of Nematode as well... lived under the bark of the CC Can chunks... 3-6mm in length, very white & slender, died within a minute of direct air exposure. This is one reason I think they came from here, amongst others.

Oribitid/Gamasid Mites= a ton of them... I've noticed 5-6 distinct varieties in my coir. Some less than .1mm to big red mites @ 1.2mm. Some live deep (tiny black ones), some live up top (multiple colors/sizes)- crawling on the pots even.

Nothing ever crawls onto the plants, ever... they stay in/very near the coir. The strays that wander off, eventually die due to dehydration... little corpses around my pots.

Good luck... tried most remedies, some work for some, some for others. Some always survive/escape treatment & the populations return after time. Several very hardy. Have isolated species to areas tho... eventually get them all, but they are persistent!

Here's best link I could find when researching... accordingly, they may be "beneficial" as NO7O noted, but most apparently eat the beneficial organisms that you may be using. Some live off root excretion tho...

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

 

[deathtosoapbar]

I had a similar situation a while back ....im thinking they are springtails if they jump /come to the surface when watering, i think like said earlier thay are pretty harmless they never went on the actual plant though there was some slight yellowing of a few seedlings though the more established plants were unaffected..out of curiosity i boiled up some chilli in water and applied it to the soil as a drench a few times and there was a major reduction in the amount of them after that..also the plant seemed to really enjoy the chilli water as it sprung into life...i dont know why but it did!