OverGrownCultivation
Active Member
So watered my girls the other day only to spot a mass infestation trying to jump out of the pots and stress levels have been through the roof. Small white or opaque near on microscopic organisms by the masses. Bit of time researching pests and remedies and i found this useful chunk of info on another site just dropping it here in the hopes i can save someone else the heart attack i suffered.
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Hi there, i had this problem and it completely screwed my head up for days, however, with much research and stress i finally found the answer...
If you have little white jumping insects that rise to the surface when watering, then these are springtails.
This is caused by over-watering your plants and forcing your growing medium to decompose and encourage the reproduction of springtails...however...DONT BE ALARMED.
They are vital to the microflora and need controlling and NOT ERADICATION.
Not only are springtails harmless to the garden, but their presence
indicates good soil health. Their diet consists of decaying matter,
fungus, & bacteria, & their activity helps keep nitrogen in the soil. A
radical explosion in their population might be an indicator that something
in the organic balance is out of wack, though it probably only means that
there are excesses of mushroom spores which can increase springtail
populations since springtails go after the mushroom spores like kids after
halloween candy, & a black springtail called "snowflea" even hops around
after snowfall gathering up fungal spores from the surface of the snow. If
springtails vanish that means the microflora is probably also missing or
that soil is never sufficiently moist to support either springtails or
microflora. In which case the plants will be at great risk too.
Attempting to get rid of them by drying out the garden would be equally
harmful to microflora, only the springtails would weather the drought
Some springtails are so small they will never be seen by the even
moderately farsighted. Tinier-than-average varieties are encountered in
potted indoor plants, but they restrict their activity to the soil & don't
spread elsewhere in the house, & are NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR HOUSEPLANTS!
So what you need to do if you have an explosive population is let your plants dry out and when you re-commence watering start with a known amount per day, if they start to droop and dry out further increase the amount until you find the RDA (recommended daily amount) for your environment and stick with that amount and increase slightly as your plant roots grow and require more.
DO NOT attempt to remove them completely as they are a vital element of the micro-culture living in your soil
Although springtails are a sign of good healthy soil & ideal plant
conditions, many vendors of various pesticides recommend getting rid of
them. Because chemical vendors don't care to distinguish between what is
helpful & what is harmful, they just want to sell more of their products.
---------------
This seems about right to me as i gave the girls a dose of GreatWhite Micoz about 6 days prior and have been watering a little more than usual due to my current heatwave.
---------------
Hi there, i had this problem and it completely screwed my head up for days, however, with much research and stress i finally found the answer...
If you have little white jumping insects that rise to the surface when watering, then these are springtails.
This is caused by over-watering your plants and forcing your growing medium to decompose and encourage the reproduction of springtails...however...DONT BE ALARMED.
They are vital to the microflora and need controlling and NOT ERADICATION.
Not only are springtails harmless to the garden, but their presence
indicates good soil health. Their diet consists of decaying matter,
fungus, & bacteria, & their activity helps keep nitrogen in the soil. A
radical explosion in their population might be an indicator that something
in the organic balance is out of wack, though it probably only means that
there are excesses of mushroom spores which can increase springtail
populations since springtails go after the mushroom spores like kids after
halloween candy, & a black springtail called "snowflea" even hops around
after snowfall gathering up fungal spores from the surface of the snow. If
springtails vanish that means the microflora is probably also missing or
that soil is never sufficiently moist to support either springtails or
microflora. In which case the plants will be at great risk too.
Attempting to get rid of them by drying out the garden would be equally
harmful to microflora, only the springtails would weather the drought
Some springtails are so small they will never be seen by the even
moderately farsighted. Tinier-than-average varieties are encountered in
potted indoor plants, but they restrict their activity to the soil & don't
spread elsewhere in the house, & are NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR HOUSEPLANTS!
So what you need to do if you have an explosive population is let your plants dry out and when you re-commence watering start with a known amount per day, if they start to droop and dry out further increase the amount until you find the RDA (recommended daily amount) for your environment and stick with that amount and increase slightly as your plant roots grow and require more.
DO NOT attempt to remove them completely as they are a vital element of the micro-culture living in your soil
Although springtails are a sign of good healthy soil & ideal plant
conditions, many vendors of various pesticides recommend getting rid of
them. Because chemical vendors don't care to distinguish between what is
helpful & what is harmful, they just want to sell more of their products.
---------------
This seems about right to me as i gave the girls a dose of GreatWhite Micoz about 6 days prior and have been watering a little more than usual due to my current heatwave.
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