Beneficial bugs, Hypoaspis miles / Predator mites

I have identified the bugs in my soil as "Hypoaspis miles" a predatory mite that lives on the topsoil and feeds on fungus gnat larvae, thrips, and other pests you don't want in your garden. They are beneficial and do not harm your plants.

I was going to do a soil drench with mosquito dunks as a preventive measure because I always do in early flower, but I'm wondering if it will kill these soil mites as well? What do you guys think, should I just hold off on the dunks and let the little guys do their job? Am I being too cautious?

I've had these mites in my soil for about a year. For a while I was concerned that they may be detrimental in some way, but I found that they will never eat my roots. They have been protecting my soil for quite a while, and providing it with a source of fresh Chitin. Don't worry about them, especially if you never see them eating roots. There are several species of mites that look extremely similar to them, but I've found the best way to assure that they are not a threat is to test them. I took a clone that was rooted in pure coco and shook off the coco once it was rooted. I then transplanted with much of the roots resting on the top cm of soil. If they were hungry for roots, they never showed it. That plant went on to be one of my best yielding so far, and the only other bugs that I ever noticed were fungus gnats. My guess is that they have been fighting off fungus gnats whenever a new population starts to assert itself, probably from a bad bag of soil.

After about 4 months they were barely present, and most of the time I would find them on the border of the plant trying to find more food. Their numbers seem to come back up from time to time. No doubt helping me to avoid multiple disasters. I'm a gardener during the day, cannabis grower at night. My business spreads pests constantly, I was actually astounded that I hadn't had an outbreak.

About a month ago my friend bought some Hypoaspis Miles from a gardening center, and my thoughts were confirmed, they were the very same mite that had been helping me out all that time. I would consider letting them be, just let them do their job.

Best wishes in your growing endeavors,
ILovePlants

thanks dude. you know i always hated insects but now i've come to appreciate them knowing they are helping my garden. as i was feeding my ladies today i noticed another batch of critters in my soil. i put one under the microscope and found out they were young springtails, another beneficial insect, and a sign of healthy soil. for once my plants seems infested with critters and i'm actually glad lol

sorry to bruing up an old topic but i JUST found these guys in my soil
View attachment 2580256
I thought at first they were the dreaded root aphids, because i thought the two legs in front were antannae (RA has 6legs plus 2 antenna and SM has 8legs)
But I am glad to find that they are beneficial, I will do nothing to control them, except maybe less water and add perlite to my next batch of soil for better drainage
but i have been using fox farm happy for with some store bought compost mixed in, and these critters popped up all of a sudden. some pots were crawling with them, but never on the plants
after learning a lil about 'em; i decided to just see how it goes, and if my plants start to show any signs of abuse, I will just let them finish and clean the room really good; but so far the plants are healthy (and it looks like these little guys have been there a while, there is probally 1 every cubic inch)
Ill report if there are any signs these guys are hurting my babies

PS I hateeee creepy crawlies but anything that is beneficial for the plants, I will tolerate; as long as it's helping

KronicUse said:

sorry to bruing up an old topic but i JUST found these guys in my soil
View attachment 2580256
I thought at first they were the dreaded root aphids, because i thought the two legs in front were antannae (RA has 6legs plus 2 antenna and SM has 8legs)
But I am glad to find that they are beneficial, I will do nothing to control them, except maybe less water and add perlite to my next batch of soil for better drainage
but i have been using fox farm happy for with some store bought compost mixed in, and these critters popped up all of a sudden. some pots were crawling with them, but never on the plants
after learning a lil about 'em; i decided to just see how it goes, and if my plants start to show any signs of abuse, I will just let them finish and clean the room really good; but so far the plants are healthy (and it looks like these little guys have been there a while, there is probally 1 every cubic inch)
Ill report if there are any signs these guys are hurting my babies

PS I hateeee creepy crawlies but anything that is beneficial for the plants, I will tolerate; as long as it's helping

Click to expand...

Your picture looks alot like spider mites to me.


http://gardening.ktsa.com/Spider-Mites/8307467







J

i just discovered the exact same thing in my soil as well. im absolutely sure that they came in from my last grow, that happened to be in the heart of the nastiest bug country. inbetween a bunch of swamps, where theres billions and billions of fungus gnats that fly around outdoors ALL YEAR LONG 24/7/365.

i had a paranoia spell after beating back gnat larvae (that decimated my last crop) thinking i had root aphids. of course, i freaked out and nuked the shit outta everything i had. turns out, a few days later, after finding gnat larvae here n there....i couldnt for the life of me find any of these buggers actually on, or eating my roots. so rule out RA's...come to find out after nuking for a couple days, and never eradicating them, and my plants werent looking bad, i figured out they were predatory mites.

that bug pictured here, is definitely NOT a spider mite of any sort. its a predatory mite....so for the first time in my life, i got an infestation, thats beneficial. just my luck, i get good infestation, and i nuked everything.

sooo if youre about to freak out thinking theyre root aphids, pull the plant out of its pot and check its roots. if theyre not congregating on the roots, eating the roots theyre not RA's. if you live in an area with 80%+ humidity every day, and temps over 80 degrees every day...chances are these things are predators.

jondamon said:

Your picture looks alot like spider mites to me.


http://gardening.ktsa.com/Spider-Mites/8307467

J

Click to expand...

Thats a species of beneficial predatory mite.
Most likely Phytoseiulus persimilis.