Organic Soil: Tiny White Bugs climbing on Pot Rims when I Water

jack ripa

Active Member
Ok, I noticed a few thrip larvae and some damage last night while experimenting in my garden. So I started treating and cleaning this morning. Well, when I did my neem+ drench I noticed on my larger plants which happen to be in black 5 gallon squares, a thousand tiny white crawlers. Tiny as hell. They are too small to even catch because I can't see them well enough to get them under the scope. I will work on that...

I grow in very live organic soil. I get springtails and I always keep them under control. Things I KNOW it's not: fungus gnats as mentioned, spider mites, thrips, root aphids...the bugs aren't a result of a dirty room, over watering or too much heat, trust me. I am not new to growing but relatively new to growing organic indoors, only been at it a couple years. So it may be that the soil I make now (which kicks ass btw, almost as fast as hydro which I have done for years) is just teeming with so much life that they are loving it. If they are eating springtails and bad nematodes I don't want to come down with the hammer of death on them.

I have had most pests at one time or another so I am pretty damn sure it's none of those. They do move like mites so I looked around. Most soil mites seem to be beneficial. Does anyone have these and just live with them?

I don't want to freak out but there are a hell of a lot of them all of a sudden. I am pretty sure they are some type of mite.

Any thoughts?
 

Shadeslay

Active Member
I've seen something similar as well, no clue what they are. Super tiny even at 25x they are hard to see and pale white. I went through an entire grow with no real effect from them and as you said they only come out on a heavy watering.
 

purrrrple

Well-Known Member
I've had them in Fox Farm Ocean Forest before. I called several people about it and they said they were harmless, but couldn't tell me what they were? Real reassuring right? LOL. Good news is I got through that cycle with no noticable problems so who knows? Good luck, and please post if you find out what they are. thx
 
i grow in coco in a wilma drip system and often deal with the ''springtail'' . well thats what i think what i get. tiny tiny lil white things , either crawling around the pot or with in the wet coco. at first i tried everything to get rid of them , cus i dont like any bug , plant vitality plus, provado , neem, nothin kills them. so as there not doin any damage you just have to live with them unfortunaltly.
 

Kingrow1

Well-Known Member
You should be able to narrow the search down on google to at least the species family name quite easily, this might tell you more. The fact that they are crawling round the surface of the soil tells me they are most likely harmless, can they move relatively fast for their size? Sounds small for most mites. I say harmless, nature beeds destruction in all shapes and sizes.
 
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