White Bugs in Soil (pics)

[Chronic333]

Last night i found these little white bugs crawling in my soil, hundreds of them if not thousands.

Im hoping they are springtails, but they dont look like any pictures of springtails ive seen.

I think one of them hopped but most of em just crawl about...

Thanks in advance for any help, +rep given for 100% positive identification!

 

[rollingrock]

Last night i found these little white bugs crawling in my soil, hundreds of them if not thousands.

Im hoping they are springtails, but they dont look like any pictures of springtails ive seen.

I think one of them hopped but most of em just crawl about...

Thanks in advance for any help, +rep given for 100% positive identification!

can you get a real close up???
had a good look but not so sure

 

[rollingrock]

can you get a real close up???
had a good look but not so sure

had a look around and came up with this from the net,
A common problem in house plants is fungus gnat infestation. The larvae of these gnats are white and appear as small, white "grubs" in the soil. Fungus gnats are not harmful to the plants themselves, but rather they feed on fungi that live in the potting soil. Having said that, in extreme infestations, fungus gnats exhaust the supply of fungi, and feed on the small secondary roots of plants causing any number of symptoms including general decline of plant, wilting, and chlorosis.

When we have fungus gnat infestation in the greenhouse, we first allow the soil to dry out a bit. The adults are very small and look like fruit flies, and when the soil is disturbed, you may seem them fly away. Fungus gnats thrive in moist soils. Overwatering is a common problem. There are soil drenches (Gnatrol) that can control the larvae populations. Gnatrol is a biological treatment using a bacterium, _Bacillus thuringiensis_ H-14 or _B.t. israeliensis_, which produces a natural toxin. These are completely safe for indoor use in potted plants. If you cannot find these treatments at a local garden center, you can find them online.

 

[Chronic333]

Thanks but these aren't larvae, they are crawling bugs.

One of the pics there is a close up, can't get much closer...

They look exactly like whiteish spider mites, but they are only in the soil

 

[TheNatural]

If your doing Organics remember....

Many bugs, but two main types.....beneficial and predator.

If you see bugs and the plants are not showing any signs of being eaten on or declining health.....you have good bugs and just leave them too do their job as the grower may not know what they are doing per chance......but they do!

Your girls will tell you fairly quickly, if there is a problem and usually way before they start going down hill too fast.

Good Luck and Many Blessings too you,

Rev. TheNatural

 

[Chronic333]

I see what you saying bro but ive been going through pretty bad nute burn issues that are starting to level out, so its hard to tell if these bugs are causing damage, on the whole my plants look healthy though (no droopyness associated with root damage) just nute burn damage & these little things crawling about

Im worried they are aphids


.

 

[TheNatural]

Does not sound like you are trying to build any organisms good or bad by my feeling, so here is something easy to take care of your problem.

I have organic methods that I use to take care of occasional predator bug problems, but instead of giving you some recipe to brew in your kitchen, I will give you what I call a " lesser evil " rememdy.

Go to the Drug store and buy you a can of lice spray " RID or store brand ect. " as its active ingredient is " Pyrethrin, " wich is a plant derivitive and yes, petroleum is in it as anything else they sell, but it is an effective lesser evil that will cause no harm, just keep it off of the buds, if you are flowering.

Spray this in a circle a few times at the base of the soil in the pot and then water the plant and that will take care of it.

You can wipe this spray on your pots and other items at the start of every new grow and it will keep most all predator bugs away and will completely rid you of spider mites as well, if ever a problem.

Lesser evil that works and will cause you no problems.

Blessings,

Rev. TheNatural

 

[rollingrock]

if what you have are aphids a simple solution of washing up liquid and luke warm water does the trick and it doesnt harm your plants but only a touch of liquid though. mix it in a sprayer with a fine mist and apply once aday for a few days and it should clear up. aphids are unlikey to kill the plants but do weaken them a little. if you start to see a few green/black fly's then you have aphids.
hope this helps some

 

[Chronic333]

I've had quite a few black flys around my room, the white bugs are definately only in the soil so a sprayer shouldnt be necessary, unless you mean to spray on the soil?

Im hoping i can just let my soil dry out & they'll go, i got another plant where the soil is dryer & no sign of these little bugs at all, ill just let the soil dry between each watering...

Im hoping they are just some type of springtail

Does not sound like you are trying to build any organisms good or bad by my feeling, so here is something easy to take care of your problem.

If the bugs are okay & even beneficial, then im fine with leaving them, im just worried as nobody seems to be able to ID them 100% if they are root eating aphids or just fungus eating bugs
.

 

[jawbrodt]

I can definitely tell you that they are not fungus gnat larvae. I've been dealing with them for 5 months, and although they are white and tiny, they don't look like that. They aren't round, and are more shaped oval/ellipse like the body of a fly would be, only alot smaller. They don't look like aphids either, at least not like any of the aphids I've ever seen. They are likely a type of mite,(or immature mite) and look exactly like a spidermite, only white instead of dark colored. If I remember correctly, i read about a 2nd type of mite that gives growers problems, in a thread yesterday, and it was white colored. Look back through the threads of the last day or two, and it has spidermites in the title. I believe it starts with a big long explanation of mites, and how to get rid of them.(newbie forum, general forum, or problems forum) You should find it helpful.

Also, i recently read about using steam to effectively kill mites, in a thread here. That method wasn't mentioned it the aforementioned thread, so you might want to search that one out too. I recommend it.

Best of luck to ya.

 

[Chronic333]

I had a search & looks like they are soil mites, which can be white/orange, exactly what i got.
I can't find any info if they are bad or beneficial though
Juts gonna let my soil dry out a bit before watering again... thanks for the willingness to help though, appreciate it, rep



.

 

[jawbrodt]

.....Also, if they are mites, I have no idea why they wouldn't be infesting the plant by now. Hmm..... Have you used neem oil on your plant? That would deter them from attacking it, because it gets absorbed by the plant and remains there throught it's life cycle. It's a natural enemy of theirs. Have they just showed up recently? Maybe they haven't had a need to attack the plant for food, yet? Maybe they're immature and getting enough food out of the organics in the soil? I never had a mite problem before so I never had to study it intensively, so all these things are just ideas, not certainty. Just tying to lend a hand, and maybe get you pointed in the right direction.

 

[Chronic333]

I think they are soil mites, not spider mites, my plants def aren't being eaten, just got nute burn on some leaves.
I've used 'pest off' the other day as i had problems with thrips & leaf miner a few weeks back, just gave em a spray to be sure as ive started flowering, after spraying i saw 3/4 dead gnats on my tent floor.
Im gonna keep a watchful eye & update what happens, they definately seem to thrive the wetter the medium is, hopefully they are helping me not hindering...they did show up recently so itll be interesting (or scary) to see if they grow bigger/move to plants etc...

Peace

 

[jawbrodt]

I think you might be in luck.....

""Almost all Gamasina are predators. Similar to spiders, they inject digestive liquid into the prey they caught, and then suck up dissolved tissues. The abundance and community structure of these mites reflect the availability of their prey. The larger surface-dwelling gamasid mites attack small arthropods (collembolans, soft-bodied mites, insect larvae and eggs). Smaller deep-litter and soil forms are predominantly nematophagous and are the most important predators of nematodes in many habitats. Some species are fungal feeders. Several genera are considered good bioindicators of habitat and soil condition""

The pics looked alot like those in your pics. Even if they aren't the same species, i did a little reading and it sounded like all common soil mites are helpful predators, and won't attack your plants. The bad part, is that the dryness won't hurt them, and they can live up to 7 years old(usually 1-2). Tough little bastards.LOL

 

[Chronic333]

Could you link me to the picture that looks similar?
Having a google image search they really do look like 'gamanisa'!
I have a good feeling about them being okay to leave, but its best to make sure...
Maybe this means ill have less gnats in the future...

btw 7 years old, seriously!?
thats insane for a bugs lifespan!

.

 

[jawbrodt]

Here's the page I got that info from..... http://www.massey.ac.nz/~maminor/mites.html Down towards the bottom, on the left, is a pic that looks similar to what I can see in those pics.

 

[Chronic333]

You can't buy peace of mind, thankyou so much, really

Im gonna have a closer look with my 60x later to be sure, but im 99% sure its of the gamasid family

If you ever need meditation advice let me know lol, thats about the only thing im good at helping with!

 

[jawbrodt]

No problem man. And, you don't owe me a thing, 'cause i'm just happy to have learned something new.


Hmm.....If the cops ever come sniffing around, i might take you up on the meditation advice.LOL

 

[Chronic333]

lol why if the cops come?
you should try meditating with your girls, they love it & when you eventually smoke it, you'll get high off the love

 

[SupraSPL]

I am somewhat convinced that mine are Hypoaspis Miles. They are predatory soil mites, sometimes white, sometimes orange. They are an awesome cleanup crew and I make a special effort to keep them around. The very rarely crawl on the leaves and have never harmed the leaves. In summer, fungus gnats invariably find their way inside and the soil mites give their larvae a hard time. The soil mites 100% eliminated the springtails that I once had.

From the picture you posted it is difficult to be certain if yours are Hypoaspis as well. I suspect mine came from a bag of Foxfarm Ocean Forest but I'm not 100% certain because I had a bag of Pro Mix that was outside in the rain, so that may have been the vector. Where did your soil come from?

Have a look: http://store.evergreengrowers.com/prostores/servlet/Detail?no=1
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