hello,

a little insight into what stage the plants are in before the problem

6 blueberry cuttings in 15ltr square pots , coco clay pebble mix 2 weeks old from rooted cuttings in 2 inch rockwool, about 5 inch tall looking quite healthy ,

just been into room and picked one of the pots up to look for roots showing and seen some small white things in the bottom , then went on to dig thhought the coco in each pot and there is loads of them , they seem to be jumping about when you move the soil , been on know your pets post and they look like Symphilids but it doesnt say in the description if they jump about !

can anyone give me some more advice on them and how to get rid !! many thanks

Nobody got any comments ?

I had these once in coco. I dont know what they were but they didnt seem to cause me any worries, not that I was pleased they were there.

They will be springtails

I get them every grow and i just live with them

Ive tried in the past to kill them but never succeeded

They do little if any damage ime

If you do want to get rid of some, elevate your pot give them a good feed and catch the runoff...you'll get thousands

Owd

I looked them up and the recommended action = none. afaik, they only eat dead matter so no worries.

thanks for all the posts,
been monitoring them now but there doesnt seem any effect , so will leave it at that

lool at living with them.. i hate creepy crawleys everything sends shivers down my spine

if thats true, then they must be beneficial

The grubs will feed on your hair roots, but it would take literally millions of them to do any damage that will affect your plants.

They are more beneficial than harmful because they break down plant matter, thus releasing nutrients in their poop.

If you blow on them, they start doing some crazy backfliping business, hence the name springtails.

Leave them be, and let nature do it's thing.

As have I since i stopped using Plagron composts and went to stuff from B&Q like Westlands with added JI or even there own John Innes.




I read some where they actually help transport mycorrhizal fungi but not sure how much this would help in containers or even coco actually.

i seem to learn somthing new everyday on here thanks guys!!

i always seem to find these jumping about at some stage or another, ive been puttin gnat off in the water when feed em, that got rid but suppose i dont need to now, wish i read this before. ill leave them be from now on



dan

I definitely wouldn't rule out gnats though, especially because this is coco we're talking about and scarid fly/fungus gnat loves to live in coco (i.e. most coco growers get them). It's no biggie though, just add GnatOff or Nilnat. I'm using Nilnat (CX) because it's the same price but has a massive dilution ratio and appears to work, although early days yet (only been using it for a week). Also you can use it preventatively, which I don't like doing with the GnatOff.

GN

Springtails don't really cause much harm however in large amounts they can damage seedlings and clones. If you wnat to finish them off, use Pyrethrum 5EC.

This is a bit assuring. I just found a load of these floating in my IWS pots when I was checking the flood level. Still don't like the little critters, I'm itching all over now. Probably just in my head.

I just caught some in a beaker and played to see what would kill them. Even a heavy dose of Hydrogen peroxide didn't stop thse little buggers flicking around. They seem to balance and skim on top of the water so I don't think pesticides in the feed will make much difference.

i found these for the 1st time yesterday, glad to read this post, looking at the pests pinned post i thought they may of been the fungus gnats that had not hatched yet,
defo best to just leave them then

i have found them on my leaves thought they were thrips .anybody know what i could use or do on the gnats tryd gnats off but they still seem 2 b around

I have those jumpy white creepies too, also can see dark colour ones and I now have no more roots.

have u checked under your leaves for them i have not seen dark ones b4

dont think they will be springtails on your leaves ! only ever seen them in the medium
you may be right with them being thrips ,any damage to the leaves ! silver marks/trails

Definately come dark coloured. I have had them all round the drain holes, jumping around like little fleas. But they only jump a few centimeters and not over scale models of the Albert hall.