need help identifying pests in room

jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
I have been having serious plant health issues now for a few years ... i know i have thrips and have never been able to get ris of them completely . Today i looked under the plastic vapour barrier on my chipboard floor and it is covered in billions on tiny flea like white/silverish little bugs .... they are even in some of my pots right in the roots , full of them . There are so many it looks like termite dust in the wood from thier traffic ...they are tiny . Anyone know what they might be and wht to do about them ? there is no way i could get a pic of them , i searched the web for hours and found nothing ..
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
def not silverfish ..much much smaller, they move fast , dont have wings , about the size of a flea ... there are billions of them under the plastic on floor in where moisure would be,,,like the root zone has moisture also .... not sure if these are contributing to dying plants as i have thrips also :( .... i don't even no how to deal with this ..what can i disinfect my basement with to kill them off ?
 
PeaceGrow

PeaceGrow

Well-Known Member
Wow are they covering your plant? If your sure they are not spidermites, i am a bit stumped..., size of a flea or bedbud?
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
they are tiny, i can't see them well enough to see thier legs with a normal hand held magnifying glass , but you can see them with the naked eye if you get down on the floor with them ... they seem to be floor dwellers , under buckets where moisture stays..i suppose they could travel through the drain holes in the buckets and go up in root zone where its moist ... only noticed them in one pot tonight ..check 3 or 4 others and didn't see them in the root zone ... i'm not yet convinced they are plant feeders but one things for sure...i havent been able to maintain a healthy plant for a few years now ... and i used to be really good at it :(
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
it doesn't look like them , their shape seems more uniform like a grain of rice but more spear shaped on the ends and much much smaller , and its hard to tell without a good magnifier ... i've searched the web for hours and found nothing similar ... thier is lots of dust looking stuff amoungst them but no visable larvie that i can see with my eye unless its in the dust .... must be eggs their somewhere the wy they seem to reproduce ..
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
Just inspected a few more and yes they are defintley living in the root zone ... roots turn dead looking after awhile , grey brownish color, and new ones keep trying to reform around them , these plants are fighting a loosing battle . Maybe their feces is toxic ... i will have to try and find a way to get pics or video ...what type of scope/magnifier should i order to make it easy to get pics onto my computer , without spending hundreds of dollars ?
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
So springtails are the closest thing i have found to resemble the infestation i have .... but everything i read says they are beneficial ... i would say i have a bit of cleaning to do in my room :\
 
D

Dsmwarrior

Member
3 tbsp unsulfered molasses to a gallon of water for watering, insects can't process even the simplest sugars, so they stay away from high sugar content, or pay the price, since they can't process sugar, when they ingest it, it ferments in they're stomach, and since they have an exoskeleton and can't expell the gas or bloat, the pressure builds inside till it crushes they're internal organs, also the molasses feeds the micro herd in your soil and the added carbs from it gives the plant a quick boost, you can foliar feed with it as well, but I use neem oil for foliar spray, had a bad case of spider mites till I went out and got some neem oil and started spraying them, use neem oil every other day till they're gone, then spray about once a week to keep them down, neem oil works for all kinds of pests including thrips, aphids and mites
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
I got a couple of these things under a 40x scope and am pretty sure by the look of them they are the springtail ... they look identiacal to web pics i have seen . Noticed when i tried to capture a few in a glass tube that they can jump like crazy ...now i just need to confirm that they are doing no damage in my rootzone because they are in their everywhere..
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
Dsmwarrior said:
3 tbsp unsulfered molasses to a gallon of water for watering, insects can't process even the simplest sugars, so they stay away from high sugar content, or pay the price, since they can't process sugar, when they ingest it, it ferments in they're stomach, and since they have an exoskeleton and can't expell the gas or bloat, the pressure builds inside till it crushes they're internal organs, also the molasses feeds the micro herd in your soil and the added carbs from it gives the plant a quick boost, you can foliar feed with it as well, but I use neem oil for foliar spray, had a bad case of spider mites till I went out and got some neem oil and started spraying them, use neem oil every other day till they're gone, then spray about once a week to keep them down, neem oil works for all kinds of pests including thrips, aphids and mites
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Thanks i'll try that out. How often should i give the plants the molasses ? do you think h202 would keep them out of the root zone as well ?
 
jssyjames

jssyjames

Active Member
So all i could find was crosby's fancy molasses ..%100 natural with no preservatives or gluten...made from %100 sugarcane ..do you think this is ok to use ? no preservatives should = unsulfered
 
D

Dsmwarrior

Member
Yes, that should dowell, and also I've been looking into the h2o2, and that looks like a good idea as well, also has other benefits to the grow!the dilution I've found is about 2 tbsp of 3% per gallon of water, use every watering, I got some to try as well
 
jbrown3

jbrown3

Active Member
Dsmwarrior said:
3 tbsp unsulfered molasses to a gallon of water for watering, insects can't process even the simplest sugars, so they stay away from high sugar content, or pay the price, since they can't process sugar, when they ingest it, it ferments in they're stomach, and since they have an exoskeleton and can't expell the gas or bloat, the pressure builds inside till it crushes they're internal organs, also the molasses feeds the micro herd in your soil and the added carbs from it gives the plant a quick boost, you can foliar feed with it as well, but I use neem oil for foliar spray, had a bad case of spider mites till I went out and got some neem oil and started spraying them, use neem oil every other day till they're gone, then spray about once a week to keep them down, neem oil works for all kinds of pests including thrips, aphids and mites
Click to expand...
3 Table Spoons per Gal Of Water, imo is a waste, i dont have any info to back it up tho so i could be wrong. i use a teaspoon a gal if that and have had excellent results
 
doniawon

doniawon

Well-Known Member
You guys making kool aid? 3tbs a gallons a lil much?
Get molasses, unsulphered. Mixes n better than sugar.
 
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