No till IPM and Pest Identification Please

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marsuzano99

Well-Known Member
Hello. I posted in the bugs thread, but nobody there is growing organic, and they keep giving me half assed answers telling me I have bugs because I have mulch and cover crop, and haven’t helped identify them at all.
This is my problem I have been having.
This is my third cycle using the same soil. 2nd cycle was great, little to no pests. I introduced some earthworms, and I don’t know if this is where it started from, but around the same time, I started seeing little white specks moving around on the outside of my fabric pots. Aye two weeks later and their population boomed. I don’t know if they are aphids or mites. I can’t see them actively eating my plants, and there isn’t any definitive damage that tells me they are being eaten, but the bugs do crawl on my seedlings. The bugs just crawl on anything and everything, so I think it’s just by chance when they are on my plants, although statistically there is always at least 5 crawling on them at once.
Please help me identify what they are, and what IPM to use if necessary. Thank you.
 

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M

marsuzano99

Well-Known Member
marsuzano99 said:
Hello. I posted in the bugs thread, but nobody there is growing organic, and they keep giving me half assed answers telling me I have bugs because I have mulch and cover crop, and haven’t helped identify them at all.
This is my problem I have been having.
This is my third cycle using the same soil. 2nd cycle was great, little to no pests. I introduced some earthworms, and I don’t know if this is where it started from, but around the same time, I started seeing little white specks moving around on the outside of my fabric pots. Aye two weeks later and their population boomed. I don’t know if they are aphids or mites. I can’t see them actively eating my plants, and there isn’t any definitive damage that tells me they are being eaten, but the bugs do crawl on my seedlings. The bugs just crawl on anything and everything, so I think it’s just by chance when they are on my plants, although statistically there is always at least 5 crawling on them at once.
Please help me identify what they are, and what IPM to use if necessary. Thank you.
Click to expand...
This is a no till by the way. Not just organic amendments.
 
green_machine_two9er

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member
Sorry hit reply. Before I was done. What I meant was holy cow that’s a lot of bugs lol. Don’t seem to bad except maybe the sheer number.
 
Darkoh69

Darkoh69

Well-Known Member
I take offence at the fact you call my answers half assed They were well over three quarter assed. & heres a full assed answer in my opinion your only organic option, torch it:fire:. Find a new hobby bro
 
green_machine_two9er

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member
I must have missed something. These type of soil critters are usually harmless. If we can get a close up I’m sure there is a exact answer. Hopefully 539A4329-9416-49D3-971F-2E52BFB59340.pngt
 
N

Northwood

Well-Known Member
marsuzano99 said:
Hello. I posted in the bugs thread, but nobody there is growing organic, and they keep giving me half assed answers telling me I have bugs because I have mulch and cover crop, and haven’t helped identify them at all.
This is my problem I have been having.
This is my third cycle using the same soil. 2nd cycle was great, little to no pests. I introduced some earthworms, and I don’t know if this is where it started from, but around the same time, I started seeing little white specks moving around on the outside of my fabric pots. Aye two weeks later and their population boomed. I don’t know if they are aphids or mites. I can’t see them actively eating my plants, and there isn’t any definitive damage that tells me they are being eaten, but the bugs do crawl on my seedlings. The bugs just crawl on anything and everything, so I think it’s just by chance when they are on my plants, although statistically there is always at least 5 crawling on them at once.
Please help me identify what they are, and what IPM to use if necessary. Thank you.
Click to expand...
From the photos, my best guess is that they're some sort of oribatid (soil) mite. It's okay though because they normally avoid eating living plant tissue. Their favorite food is any type of decaying organic material (same thing that red wiggler worms like). In the forest they play a critical roll in organic material cycling that eventually leads to mineralization that feeds your plants.

It seems you lack predators and those orbatids have a great food supply while living under excellent environmental conditions. That's why you have so many. If you want to get rid of a lot of them, just put a melon rind on the surface, and in a few hours carefully dispose of it and the millions of mites fighting over it.
 
M

marsuzano99

Well-Known Member
Northwood said:
From the photos, my best guess is that they're some sort of oribatid (soil) mite. It's okay though because they normally avoid eating living plant tissue. Their favorite food is any type of decaying organic material (same thing that red wiggler worms like). In the forest they play a critical roll in organic material cycling that eventually leads to mineralization that feeds your plants.

It seems you lack predators and those orbatids have a great food supply while living under excellent environmental conditions. That's why you have so many. If you want to get rid of a lot of them, just put a melon rind on the surface, and in a few hours carefully dispose of it and the millions of mites fighting over it.
Click to expand...
From looking at orabatid mites, it looks like it might be a house dust mite. Would that be bad? Or no problem for the plants?
 

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