White Bugs. What are They?

Hi guys. I have this issue that came with the potting soil I bought ( Miracle Grow Organic Soil ) Little white bugs are real bad through some of the pots, others are starting. What are they and what can I do to fix.

I have posted two videos. I am sorry they suck, but it is late night right now and this is a camera phone.

[video=youtube;ETbkJyun0TU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETbkJyun0TU[/video]

[video=youtube;y_SnF4VAiIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SnF4VAiIA[/video]

I will try to post something with the flip. Thanks for the help!

if this is indoor call a exterminator cause ur whole pad is infested prob

go buy some promix and you will never have to buy another bag of insects with some soil in it. miracle grow is for daisies and dandylions

Well it is indoor but it is not my house. I have a shitty trailor setup for it. Any idea what it is and how to stop it?

There termites

root gnats spider mites or white flies, not sure witch (mabey none of those) but ive had those exact bugs in mine i went to wally world bought fungicide 3 its a fungicide pesticide made from neem oil i only had to apply once to plant and soil never came back, also claims to be organic dont know if i trust that, but it works

Thanks I will go buy some and try it. How can you tell they are termites?

are there any flying insects in the room? Could be fungus gnat larvae. I'd spray that soil with some pyrethrum based insecticide. You got nothing to loose at this point. I realize it's not the necessarily the best option, but it's what I'd do.

There are some small insects flying in the grow room. Are they harmful? I heard pyrethrum was bad news. The seeds just sprouted. Is it an immediate risk to them?

do a google images search on fungus gnats. If it's a match, I know Pyrethrum will take them out. Yes it's not organic, yes it would be bad if the plants were in budding, and I'll likely get crap for suggesting it to you. But again, that's what i'd do. The bugs you see in the soil are the babies of the flying ones. they eat roots for dinner, so you should take care of them quickly. The good news is they are much easier to control than some other insects like my arch nemesis the spider mite! Hope this helps!

It's hard to tell in the video, but they remind me of the soil lice that I've had in the past. Scared the hell out of me when I first saw them. There were lots of them running around like that. Then I found out what they were, and that they don't hurt anything. They eat decaying matter, and may even be slightly beneficial. I was still nervous - it's never a good feeling seeing a bunch of bugs crawling around below your plants. But, in the end, they did absolutely no harm that I ever saw.
One thing that I didn't notice until I read it and knew to watch for it is that they get very active and move to the surface of the soil right after a watering, then seem to disappear a day or two later (go back down in the soil). Watch for that behavior. It might be a clue.

Here's a pic of one: (There are different types, so they might not look exactly like this. Mine were shorter.)


P.S. Flying insects in your room quite possibly are fungus gnats. They're pretty common. But, from the video, the white things crawling around sure don't look like fungus gnat larvae. The larvae are little maggots that burrow down in the soil. They don't speed around on the surface like that. (At least I've never seen them do anything at all like that, and I've dealt with plenty of fungus gnats [unfortunately]).

the neem oil and theres a fungacide 3 spray to kill all fungus pests and mites and its safe for bud plants. i use it on my indoor bedroom tent grow
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/347598-fisrt-grow-1000w-martian-mean.html

Thanks everyone for the help!

I got some fungacide 3. I am not sure if it was the bugs or not but I checked on everything today and one of the plants was dead.... the pot that had the worst infestation. I hope this spray does the trick. I sprayed all over the plants and the soil so maybe it would penetrate some.

I also uploaded a new video. It is better quality, but the bugs were still hard to get... they are towards the end of the video.

[video=youtube;-S0DwhSpCPA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S0DwhSpCPA[/video]

I'd still guess soil lice. That's just based on my experience though. I haven't had any experience with any other bugs that look and behave like that.

Fungus gnats: Adults fly around, and look like little flies. Larvae are little maggots and don't crawl around quickly on the surface like that.
Mites: You'd find them on the leaves. You'd see white specks on leaves where they are sucking the life out of them. I've never seen them move anywhere near that fast.
Thrips: They look sort of similar. They can move fast, but more often they don't. You'd find them on stems and leaves, not racing around on the soil.

Personally, I'm guessing that it's coincidence that that one plant died. Could be that there happened to be more decaying matter in that one's soil (or something in the soil mix that made it a bit hot), making it a bit harsh on the baby's roots... and coincidentally attracting the soil lice.

Like I said, that's just based on my experience. Maybe someone else can think of another pest that looks like that and speeds around on the soil surface like that.

Thanks man. I am starting a few more to make up what was lost.

I have found that Miracle Gro organic choice sometimes comes littered with tiny white bugs. I did research and found out they are call 'Hypoaspis Miles'. They are predatory mites that kill off gnats and mites that harm your plant. Look for YouTube video that is titled "finally id'd as Hypoaspis miles". If these bugs are what is in your soil then leave them! They will not harm your plant rather will do good and keep bad bug infestations away! Again I'm not saying that is what you have but I also use that soil and find it is common.