Unknown soil bugs outdoors help please

I'm an inexperienced 2nd time grower in Colorado. Have 2 plants in backyard both in 10 gallon pots. Little info on CO weather this summer, been real hot and dry with little rain. Sometimes temps would be over 90 for 5+ days at at time.

Plant (perplex) that i've left alone (no pruning, bending, fan leave removal) is doing fine, no visible pests on leaves or in soil. Soil drains evenly and usually dries out quicker than my other plant.

Other plant (purple voodoo) was pruned during veg to have 4 main branches. Used a slightly different soil mix than first plant which im guessing is why it takes so long to drain. Roots appear to be fine, white and healthy looking. Soil is just always wetter and soggier than other plant.

I usually check plants when I wake up in am and recently (last week or so) have noticed a lot of very small white insects that are everywhere in the moist soil underneath top layer of soil. They don't fly, just crawl around erradictly. No sight of them on plant, just in the soil. Any idea of what these are? And if so please let me know what I can do.

I can take and pic if necessary just not sure if the camera will even capture them as they are pretty dang small.

edit: Also is there anything I can do to improve soil drainage in my pots without disturbing the roots?

You might be doing this but let the soil dry longer in the wetter bucket. then add 2 peeled cloves of garlic to your soil. stick the cloves pointy side up and leave them about 1/4 inch out of the soil. one clove on each side of the plant. don't know what type of bugs you got but most don't like the garlic.

Could be fungus gnat larva . . . will die if top inch of soil is allowed to dry out between waterings.

I keep my soil draining well, and the top of the soil drying faster, by cultivating (digging around) the planters with a bamboo skewer.
Mature roots love being gently molested, IMO.

Fungus gnats like to lay eggs under the little pieces of organic matter lying atop some soils. I remove the bark, sticks, etc. from the surface.

MrFishy said:

Could be fungus gnat larva . . . will die if top inch of soil is allowed to dry out between waterings.

I keep my soil draining well, and the top of the soil drying faster, by cultivating (digging around) the planters with a bamboo skewer.
Mature roots love being gently molested, IMO.

Fungus gnats like to lay eggs under the little pieces of organic matter lying atop some soils. I remove the bark, sticks, etc. from the surface.

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Thanks, looks like thats what they are, culivated the soil pretty well today.

Just did some inspection and found all kinds of fungus gnats in the cultivated soil. What harm to they cause and how can I kill them without them spreading further???

They'll die off w/o harm from improved watering practice. If you want them out of your soil NOW, place slice(s) of raw potato on the surface and leave until slice is infested w/larva, then discard and replace slice.
It seems like I've had minor fungus gnat issues since 77' . . . when I started indoors. Never been a deal breaker, and I've never really dealt w/them.
Left unchecked, and w/o watering adjustment, folks say the larva will feed on your roots, but you'd really have to have a majotr out-break and be ignorant to allow this, IMO.

Let your soil dry out as much as possible now . . . they'll disappear on their own.

MrFishy said:

They'll die off w/o harm from improved watering practice. If you want them out of your soil NOW, place slice(s) of raw potato on the surface and leave until slice is infested w/larva, then discard and replace slice.
It seems like I've had minor fungus gnat issues since 77' . . . when I started indoors. Never been a deal breaker, and I've never really dealt w/them.
Left unchecked, and w/o watering adjustment, folks say the larva will feed on your roots, but you'd really have to have a majotr out-break and be ignorant to allow this, IMO.

Let your soil dry out as much as possible now . . . they'll disappear on their own.

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phew thats a relief. was kinda freaking out, thanks for your help.