Small lavre in water

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 27, 2010

Hello, so i was looking in my drainage pots and it looks like i have these really small white/grey looking lavre in the water. i cleaned the pots and watered the plants until no more lavre was seen in the run off. does anyone have an idea what these could be? they were definitely alive because they were moving around. every time i shook the water they would all come back together and then start moving around. these thing are really tiny. i mean i don't think they're a millimeter wide. any suggestions? i am very curious.

3rdEyeWonder · Mar 27, 2010

Posts a few pics....sounds like baby root aphids to me though....

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 27, 2010

tried taking pics but you couldn't see them. what do root aphids do?

cornflake · Mar 27, 2010

there's a sticky, read it

habeeb · Mar 27, 2010

do you have fungus gnats flying around? the babies are common in drainoff

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 27, 2010

i saw a couple of little things flying around but didn't think much of it. what do fungus gnats do?

habeeb · Mar 27, 2010

^ the babies eat root, and the adults are just annoying as hell and very hard to get rid of, along with breeding more of them

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 27, 2010

i flushed the plants and didn't see any more eggs or lavre coming out. do you think it's safe to say the eggs and lavre are all gone? these plants are 1-2 weeks away from finish and i just want them to get the proper nutrients that i'm feeding them.

Pseudo · Mar 27, 2010

are they jumping around like little mexican jumping beans? could be springtails, do a google image search on each of the suggestions and figure it out. good luck

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 27, 2010

Pseudo said:
are they jumping around like little mexican jumping beans? could be springtails, do a google image search on each of the suggestions and figure it out. good luck

nah is the dry drain pots i could see what looked like crawling.

PuReKnOwLeDgE · Mar 27, 2010

Could be something called "springtails" and they appear in my reservoir from time to time. They are not harmful but also annoying. If they are white, narrow, and bend like a U and "spring" around you know they are it. Nematodes are supposed to take care of them.

I have seen plenty of fungus gnats in soil but hydro usually it is springtails you are seeing. Good luck

compost · Mar 27, 2010

after you water cultivate the top layer of soil and see if there are tons of them moving around. Also see what they do in the runoff. What I had would all congregate in masses at the surface of the water. If you take them out of the water watch them to see if they do jump.

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 27, 2010

compost said:
after you water cultivate the top layer of soil and see if there are tons of them moving around. Also see what they do in the runoff. What I had would all congregate in masses at the surface of the water. If you take them out of the water watch them to see if they do jump.

that's what i have. if i shake the water they all come back together in one big circle. did you figure out what it was?

some move around slowly, some seem to big jumping. it's very weird.

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 29, 2010

?????

BigTop · Mar 29, 2010

U've got the answer... the hopping is a clear indicator of springtails... they are longer, narrow, usually all white, appx 1mm in length, and breed by the thousands... plus they have this little tiny 'arm' on the underside of their belly... this is what they use to 'hop' abouts.

Purely an annoyance pest... doesn't do anything to the plants/roots except eat the bene's in the medium or solution (if using).... in some ways they are a good sign of natural soil decomposition... but a major annoyance for us.

Goodluck... lest you really get on top of some soil drenches plus diligent top sprays for the next 2 weeks, they will be with you until you throw those pots out. Also, they tend to get into irrigation lines & stick around that way too... going from one crop to the next.

Major pain in the ars... no harm to the plants. Peace

compost · Mar 29, 2010

The biggest problem I have had with them( I think its from them) is they are messing up my soil PH. I was over 9.5 when I bombed them hard and now its down to almost 8. I still have them just in much smaller numbers. So far I have added DUNKS, spinosad, insecticidal soap, pytherium, and DE. That has helped keep them in check but there not going away. What I have been doing is taking my insecticidal soap and adding some of the pytherium concentrate, and spinosad concentrate. Right after I water I spray the top of the soil with it. Try to keep your medium drier to help reduce there numbers also.

compost · Mar 29, 2010

Believe they are springtails. After I water I spray the top of the soil with insecticidal soap fortified with perthium, and spinosad. Seen there numbers go down but not away. At the same time being so far along in flowering I am reluctant to do anything drastic. I also added DUNKs and DE to the top of the soil.

SmokeyTheBear · Mar 29, 2010

thanks guys

simple green · Mar 30, 2010

I don't care if they supposedly don't harm the plants I hate springtails!

Sevin-5 in veg or early flower...$5 at Home Depot for the pound is plenty...
water with 1 teaspoon of the dust per gallon....
come back 2-3 hours later and the springtails are DEAD...
You can flush the Sevin-5 out at this point...

Maybe repeat in a week or two if they manage to regroup...but this stuff doesn't get some of them...it kills them!

Small lavre in water

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