Anyone ever experience Springtails?!?!?!

bblzs

Active Member
Everything I could find on the interwebz tells me not to worry. They are a sign of good soil health & help keep Nitrogen in the soil....
They don't eat your plants!!! They just like moist environments & chill in the soil.

I've cleaned out my box and took out the cup of water I keep in there to help the humidity stay in check.

I checked this morning & there are no more in the box but they are still in the soil.
 

Icemud

Well-Known Member
I also have them and have read that they are beneficial to the soil. From what I read they help transport the myco's spores to the lower roots and help promote better soil.
 

bblzs

Active Member
I also have them and have read that they are beneficial to the soil. From what I read they help transport the myco's spores to the lower roots and help promote better soil.
YAY! I'm not the only one :) THANKS SO MUCH!!!! I thought I was the only one!
 

WeedGrows

Member
Everything I could find on the interwebz tells me not to worry. They are a sign of good soil health & help keep Nitrogen in the soil....
They don't eat your plants!!! They just like moist environments & chill in the soil.

I've cleaned out my box and took out the cup of water I keep in there to help the humidity stay in check.

I checked this morning & there are no more in the box but they are still in the soil.
There are over 8000 species of springtails in the world, so they can be hard to ID sometimes. Most of them have a "spring" under their belly, and they use it to jump, watch for that. Springtails will not eat your live plant unless maybe there is nothing else for them to eat. They feed on fungi, and molds, and other micro organisms. I've read that they can grow up to 17mm in size, never seen one that size though, most are around 2mm. I have them in my soil right now, I decided to let them stay, since there is not a ton of them, but they can "infest" and become very numerous. More of a nuisance than a problem I would say.

I've heard that Neem oil will kill them, anyone ever tried this?
 
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