springtails.

[charface]

Have you considered vacuuming them up? I know it sounds silly, but it works great for most hopping/flying pests in our gardens. You won't eliminate them doing this, but you might keep the adult population in check.

Hell ya.
Especially with a wet dry vac.
Float them up and vacume.
Thats a good solution

 

[undercovergrow]

i do have a wet/dry vac i use exclusively for the grow. the dawn dish soap has seriously affected the population. i have an extra fan in there too and plan on reducing the watering frequency just slightly...i can deal with a small number, but not what i was seeing yesterday. i wish i could be like charface and just like bugs

 

[undercovergrow]

charface, i hope you don't mind me adding a bit of bud porn to your thread. here is a pic of a girl that isn't suffering too bad from the springtails and is due in a few weeks:


Emerald Jack

 

[undercovergrow]

here's the same girl, just closer. you can see her putting out some sugar for me!

 

[SpicySativa]

The springtails will not harm your plants or soil. The are benign. There is really no need to concern yourself with them.

As for why they showed up, you may have some raw soil amendments left in your soil that aren't fully "cooked" yet. Springtails are detritivores, meaning they feed on dead, decaying organic material. If your soil mix is already fully degraded/composted, it will not provide them a food source and they will likely never show up in the first place. Same reason they'll show up in an overfed worm bin, but will leave after the worms have caught up with their food supply and there is no longer decaying organic material for them to eat.

In simple terms, they are degraders. They show up when there is organic material to degrade, and leave when it's all degraded. If anything, they are helping your soil by degrading residual amendments that didn't fully break down while your soil "cooked".

 

[charface]

here's the same girl, just closer. you can see her putting out some sugar for me!

View attachment 3029033

Thats a good on pa pa.

 

[undercovergrow]

thanks spicysativa for the comment. it's more that they are freaking this girl out than anything...i'm hoping you're right they will leave after organic material has been degraded!!

 

[undercovergrow]

Thats a good on pa pa.

thank you

 

[charface]

update.
I run a few strains at a time so I have been selectively harvesting and noticed
while watering the remaining plants the springtails were absent.

Not sure if me reducing the water and food drove them to die or what.

It is strange seeing tons then not a sign of them but that wraps the story of my springtails.

This soil wil now be used outdoors.

 

[nova1992]

i had bulbous springtails in my cactuses lol, cutest mother fuckers ever, look em up!
anyway, i also had gnats and my soil had a lot of dead plant matter in it and i guess it drew them.
i wanted to get rid of the gnats so i covered the soil with a thick layer of sand and have not seen the gnats or cute lil springtails anymore, im a bit bummed about losing my jumping lil critters but thats how i got rid of them.