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Tiny, tiny white bugs

mrlucky

New member
Well, this is a first. I've never seen these before. They are about the size of a pin point. White or clear. Under a magnifying glass, they are pear/seed shaped, look to have longer antennae, and it's hard to say how many legs, but it doesn't appear to be 8. It actually doesn't look like many. Here's the weirdest part. After spending the better part of an hour observing, there are none on my plants. I watched the soil, looked under and on top of leaves, and watched the stems. Nothing. Instead, they are only on the plastic things. Drip lines, drip stakes, and my flood tray. I gave everything a good coating of Safer End All, and the ones I sprayed directly just about disintegrated. Despite spraying, I did eyeball a few over the next half hour. Anyone have a clue what these might be?


Many thanks...
 

mrlucky

New member
Springtails could be the culprit... However, none were witnessed in the soil. I've also been looking at mold mites. Thank you for the reply!
 

al70

Active member
Veteran
yeah, springtails, scared the shit outa me once, i got them in my coco, only appear after watering, no harm, goodluck
 

mrlucky

New member
Just a crappy little hand held magnifier. I'm now realizing I need something a little better. Lol. I have a trichome magnifier, but the only way I could see them is while they were still moving around on my lines. Tried to coax a few onto some darker paper, but the little bastards are clearly untrainable.
 

TanzanianMagic

Well-known member
Veteran
Well, this is a first. I've never seen these before. They are about the size of a pin point. White or clear. Under a magnifying glass, they are pear/seed shaped, look to have longer antennae, and it's hard to say how many legs, but it doesn't appear to be 8. It actually doesn't look like many. Here's the weirdest part. After spending the better part of an hour observing, there are none on my plants. I watched the soil, looked under and on top of leaves, and watched the stems. Nothing. Instead, they are only on the plastic things. Drip lines, drip stakes, and my flood tray. I gave everything a good coating of Safer End All, and the ones I sprayed directly just about disintegrated. Despite spraying, I did eyeball a few over the next half hour. Anyone have a clue what these might be?


Many thanks...
Springtails. They feed on fungi and decaying plant matter, and love water. They are harmless, unless you have a bad situation with bad fungi and bacterial infection (mildew, septora, botrytis), which they can track around, like all other insects.
 

Scrappy-doo

Well-known member
Springtails will jump if you try to fuck with'em. If they didn't when you tried to coax them you probably have something else. Tiny, white, pear shaped sounds like hypoaspis miles to me.
 

mrlucky

New member
Clear packing tape. Brilliant. With all the rain we've had here, humidity levels are definitely up, despite dehumidification. All of our guesses are moisture seeking bugs... I do have a low level of fungus gnats. This time of year I feel like if I can at least keep the population low naturally I'm winning the battle. So hypoaspis miles makes sense there. As previously mentioned though, I have not witnessed any in the medium. That's the odd part. Regardless, I have not seen one for the last two days. So who knows. Lol. If I do see one, I'm going to snag it up with some clear tape!
 

DavidOrtiz

New member
We have recently witnessed the group of springtails in our backyards. We have taken some steps to improve our ventilation and increase drying. Though they are no harm, we are unable to eradicate them from our backyards as there are many, I guess it is overpopulated now. We are thinking to consult some exterminator in Folsom to come and do some extermination process to eradicate these nasty creatures from our beautiful backyards.
 

FlaDankster

Active member
Veteran
Google "soil mites",lots of pics to go through.Springtails are easy to id as they will hop around on little pogo sticks.
 

PDX Dopesmoker

Active member
Look at pictures of common cannabis pests and see what matches up
Here is some pics from my russet mite image collection
oDxhCeD.jpg

mkmjTPJ.jpg

bfthIlS.jpg
 
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