[portpunk]

Literally overnight I have noticed tons of these little white bugs on the top of my soil. Is there any reason for concern? Do they hurt anything?

[ROOTWISE]

Make sure you indentify correctly first.....

THEN---

You will hear from many people that they are no problem and simply feed on dead or decaying organic matter. Some will even tell you they are beneficial....all this is terribly wrong when considering the limited space within containers of an indoor garden.

I battled them for a loooooong time and they reduced my yields to nothing. Organic hydro and soil systems. NOTHING, trust me on this. When the organic matter within your container is exhausted they quickly begin feeding on your root and root hyphae systems rendering efficient nutrient uptake impossible. Everything during vegetative cycles will move along fine but as the needs of each plant explode during early Flower Phase you will see flower production come to a standstill.

Kill them now. I tried EVERYTHING. Once again, trust me please. From one of our state entomologists to any online resource I finally narrowed down one product: Bifenthrin. Used as a soil drench with the addition of Diatomaceous Earth I have eliminated them but use one drench per run just in case....

It is available under a few generic names and with different labeling for different uses, I'll leave the googling up to you...

Hope this helps...

RW

[LunaShadow]

They are bad, they eat the roots, then the adults eat the leaves.

Left unchecked they will stunt the growth of your plants and may eventually kill them if they eat enough of the roots

you can greatly reduce them by letting the soil dry out properly between watering.

Also, a product called bug defence containing Abamectin got rid of mine.

Like Rootwise sad, diatomaceous earth is also good, it dehydrates them by cutting through their cuticles

[jaykush]

funny my plants always do better with them around. if you have thousands and thousands of them, something is wrong with your system. and as usual they are a sign of moist conditions. and it would be wise to re-think your watering schedule.

and those who say springtails eat roots, its not so except for a few species of springtails who do so, and they are not common at all. they mostly eat fungi and bacteria( and aid in the nutrient cycle of a healthy system). i have studied and identified over 100 species of springtails where i have lived for over 4 years now. they are amazing creatures.

here is a great gallery with clear pictures for identification. keep in mind they come in ALL colors and differ slightly in shape and size.
https://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/springtails_collembola

most people will be seeing the Entomobryidae springtails

[portpunk]

Thanks for the replies guys. Good bugs or not I dont want them. Pulled out the microscope to take a closer look and they look just like the pictures on Jaykushes link, feeling all itchy now, weird little guys. I only have maybe another week left of flowering so im not to concerned about them now, but i recycle my soil. Should I toss this soil when im done?

[smoke headies]

Originally Posted by portpunk

Thanks for the replies guys. Good bugs or not I dont want them. Pulled out the microscope to take a closer look and they look just like the pictures on Jaykushes link, feeling all itchy now, weird little guys. I only have maybe another week left of flowering so im not to concerned about them now, but i recycle my soil. Should I toss this soil when im done?

Yes

[smoke headies]

Please help..

I have these type of springtails in my nutrient REZ.. please help....


https://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/95280946

is this good or bad?

Now that I look again, it may not be those.. they are white though...

[MrFista]

Jay is correct that a boom of these critters shows a soil imbalance - but without knowledge of what predates them and how to add springtails predators to your soil the problem will not just go away. Any ideas Jay?

They either graze mycorrhizal fungal hyphae, or they restrict their mycorrhizal associations. Either way Glomus fasciculatus is affected severely by springtails which correlates directly with reduced phosphate uptake and decreased yield in the plants (leeks) studied. G fasciculatus, and other unidentified fungi species hyphae and spores were isolated from the gut of the springtails studied.

Drying soil out will help, but some species are found with unique adaptations to dessication, and will dry right out then come back to life when water arrives. Fortunately, so far, this adaptation has only been isolated in antarctic populations. But it does lead me to suspect a certain tolerance to dessication in other species.

Pot culture can be difficult to get a balance with organics, that's why I switched to growing in a bed. Hoping for an increase in complexity of the soil food web. But so far, I suck at growing in beds.

[MrFista]

Still thinking on it. A high level of intact woody substate and fungi combined with overly moist conditions could be how to make springtails boom. Looking at my yards leaf mulch and fungal pit align with this thinking. In drier seasons outside, they are not so obviously apparent, only under the leaf litter where it's wet. This lends to the thinking that moisture content has much to do with high levels of springtail activity --> High fungal activity = lots of food.

With a reasonably high number of fungal species nature provides the springtail with more of a smorgasboard of fungi to graze on, and this in turn may lessen mycorrhizal grazing.

The leek study tried to prevent other fungal species involved, wanting to study the affect of springtails on Glomus fasciculatus. Only a few fungal species survived the autoclave and were subsequently found in springtails guts.

To keep springtail numbers down one might consider

Less water.

A fungal innoculant with a range of species.

Food for a wide variety of non mycorrhizal fungal types eg: wood and leaf debris, chiton (to encourage species that decay insect exoskeletons in soil borne larval stages), guano/manures, blood and bone meal, and plant meals eg: alfalfa.

Not a quick fix, but should help bring more balance to the soil.

Yellow Sticky Traps..