Springtails infestation!

[babethPOWERS]

I grow indoors Please help! I have a springtail infestation! I know that they are generally harmless and usually mean you have good soil but this is BAD! I'm convinced there's so many that they're munching on my roots too. I would say there's about 50 every square inch. I've tried drying the soil and I've tried DE on top. Do I use neem cake? will that really work if it's just on the surface? Please help I can feel them crawling on me when I touch my pots.

 

[Jraven]

I'm sympathetic...we had them like that and it was hard to find anyone with expertise to who saw them as a problem. I really don't have a good answer either. I agree they eat the roots of young or otherwise vulnerable plants..Do you know where they came from? What happened here was we ammended the native soil and gave them conditions that they liked and caused an explosion so we dealt with them for years by heating soil and also drowning them so we would have soil to start plants. Once the plants are established they aren't as vulnerable. This was years ago and we didn't know about neem I'm curious if would work, I'd give it a try.

 

[babethPOWERS]

It's so terrible!

 

[Jraven]

They are! We went through this before we had AFN and NOBODY had any answer. I hope some one here can help. I take it this is affecting a current grow?

 

[Raoul Duke]

Never tried it for springtails, but it works well for spider mites and aphids. Mix neem oil with a natural castille soap either 1:1 or 2:1 with warm water and you can water your medium, or use it as a spray for the leaves. Also acts as a fungicide for things like root rot and powdery mildew. Good luck bud.

 

[bad dragon bzzz]

springtails...them things you can hardly even see,have to stare at a bit of soil and just wait to see a movement.they generally harmless as feed on dead stuff,shouldnt be above soil level.found a load of them in a mates grow,i found them a time or two in my drip trays when i was overdoing it with watering.
id be tempted to let pot dry out till plant almost wilts a lil,then treat them.
good luck n keep er lit.

 

[babethPOWERS]

They are! We went through this before we had AFN and NOBODY had any answer. I hope some one here can help. I take it this is affecting a current grow?

Yes my clones and 30 day old autos
I know it's not ph or nutes.
Was never too worried but it seems they really love clone gel that's what started them going the most crazy because I've had a normal amount in my tent for the past year and they exploded after my last clone run. I could see them eating the gel

Never tried it for springtails, but it works well for spider mites and aphids. Mix neem oil with a natural castille soap either 1:1 or 2:1 with warm water and you can water your medium, or use it as a spray for the leaves. Also acts as a fungicide for things like root rot and powdery mildew. Good luck bud.

afraid of putting oil in soil for anything
it's for young plants and clones

springtails...them things you can hardly even see,have to stare at a bit of soil and just wait to see a movement.they generally harmless as feed on dead stuff,shouldnt be above soil level.found a load of them in a mates grow,i found them a time or two in my drip trays when i was overdoing it with watering.
id be tempted to let pot dry out till plant almost wilts a lil,then treat them.
good luck n keep er lit.

I've been drying to wilt for 3 months! I was getting ready for my next clone run and wanted to try to get rid of them. I could barely see them anymore so I cloned and they went nuts!

As an odd side note the prolonged drying to wilt did wonders for my Mothers! They have started to last longer without watering and have gotten very bushy with perfect node spacing

 

[Green Goblin]

Springtails a Beneficial Arthropod


“I Have a Springtail Infestation” When I am through with a grow and replacing the BioChar and substrates in the container to grow another plant, I always keep an eye out for what I can see. I look for differences in root growth and infestations of arthropods. If things were done correctly, I always find Springtails, a beneficial arthropod, dominating the area in the bottom half of the container in the BC. I find 100’s of thousands of the little white critters springing, walking and bouncing around, wondering who turned the lights on. But not to worry about this particular infestation. Springtails love moisture. They live out all their lives in the depths of the container, stimulating growth of your plants. Unless you are an organic soil technician, you probably don’t understand how substrates and soils work in the real world. Soil arthropods, soil microbes and roots work together as a combined system. Stimulating Mycorrhizae & Controlling Pathogens The subterranean environment is a web of organisms ranging from beneficial to pathogenic. The interactions among these organisms are very important for plant growth and health. Folsomia candida in the Biochar is feeding on fungal hyphael of mycorrhizae controlling fungal diseases. (Lubbock,1973). Grazing of mycorrhizae living on the roots of the plant can stimulate growth of the fungus which in turn, improves plant growth. Also, selective grazing by springtails is an important factor limiting the distribution of certain species of pathogenic fungi as well. They contribute to controlling plant fungal diseases through their active consumption of mycelia and spores of damping-off and pathogenic fungi. (Maria Agnese Sabatini & Gloria Innocenti (2001), Hiroyoshi Shiraishi, Yoshinari Enami & Seigo Okano (2003)) This effect is density-dependent. There should be a healthy population in the bottom biochar. Most plants are slow in taking up phosphorus and other substances from the soil unless it has mycorrhizae on its roots. Mycorrhizae, literally meaning fungus roots, are thread like fungal bodies that interact with plant roots. The healthy growth of a plant can depend on the population of springtails living in the soil. Springtails live by eating the tips of the mycorrhizae. This stimulates the mycorrhizae to grow, dissolve more nutrients in the soil around it, and in turn, feed it to the plant.

 

[Waira]

.... one other thing, are you certain they're springtails? Are they swarming on the soil surface, pot, but not the plant itself? I ask because soil mites (not the harmful type of mite) are often mistaken for them,.. unless you're spotted them jumping away from your finger if you poke at them,...

 

[babethPOWERS]

.... one other thing, are you certain they're springtails? Are they swarming on the soil surface, pot, but not the plant itself? I ask because soil mites (not the harmful type of mite) are often mistaken for them,.. unless you're spotted them jumping away from your finger if you poke at them,...

No bugs are on my plants just the dirt and pots and the whole floor of my tent. There's so many I honestly can't tell if they're jumping but they're fast as hell and i swear they jump. Guess it's magnifying glass time