Some kinda bug in my sundew pot (springtails)

[mcantrell]

So this is my oldest sundew pot. I've had it for 4 years (and 1 month), and it's grown, died back, spread to all my other pots, etc etc.

Most recently it's been... really bad. Everything turning black, new growth tortured, etc etc. I assumed it was bad lighting, as the problems are appearing on other plants as well -- basically, everything's died back and sent up "low light" leaves.

I was watering them today (about a day and a half late, they were getting dry) and noticed itty bitty bugs jumping on the water after I flooded the pot. I decided to flush the pot out by putting it in the sink and pouring water over it until it spilled over, then tipped the pot on it's side to wash the rest of the bugs out.

Any idea what type they are? Do I need to panic? I have some Neem Oil based pesticide -- it's Schults "Garden Safe" Fungicide -- Fungicide, Insecticide, and Miticide. I've never tried it on my CP, as it says it's "0.9% Neem Oil" and "99.1% other ingredients", wasn't sure it was CP Safe.

This stuff -- I got the spray, not the concentrate: http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Safe-10411X-Fungicide3-Concentrate/dp/B000JETF1M

Should I consider repotting everything? Spraying a test plant with that spray? Curling up into a ball and freaking out?

 

[amphirion]

springtails. harmless for the most part...i suspect seedlings might fall prey though. otherwise, food.

 

[mcantrell]

springtails. harmless for the most part...i suspect seedlings might fall prey though. otherwise, food.

Ah. Wish I hadn't flushed them. Wonder if they have like, eggs or something in the soil. Still, with my plants growing back (slowly) from the roots, just as well that I ditched them.

 

[Not a Number]

They'll be back.

Is that an undrained pot? How old is the media? Four plus years is a very long time to go without changing it. The peat breaks down and minerals build up, the latter much more rapidly in undrained containers. If you're getting "sink holes" or low spots definitely high time to change the medium.

And Drosera capensis often poops out after several years. It's always nice to keep a new generation or two growing. Easy to do with D. capensis. Too easy.

 

[mcantrell]

It's drained, it's a $10 6" ceramic pot from Fred Meyer, with a 4" tall saucer. Not drained WELL, but... yeah.

And yeah, was getting sink spots before the plants died back in the pot. I attributed most of it to the rather vibrant plant dying back, leaving a maze of black, dead, material. Which is why I ultimately decided to cut it back -- the remaining green stuff wasn't growing.

Let it die slowly, or chop it off and pray for regrowth from the roots. Kinda a heartbreaking choice since it was my first Carnivorous Plant.

 

[PaulJ69]

I find springtails very helpful! They eat mold/fungus and will probably fall victim to the plant. I believe they take care of fungus gnat larva as well.

 

[Not a Number]

I would change the medium. You'd be surprised on how quickly Drosera can revive with fresh media. And laying some of the root out horizontally stimulates offshoot growth.

 

[mcantrell]

I plan to, once they're a bit bigger. I have 5 of them left, 3 of which are seedling sized, the other two are just... sitting there. Not dying / growing / etc. Lots of very small leaves, in an odd cluster -- some of which are deformed -- you can see them up there.

Just waiting on them to get old enough to survive transplanting shock, heh.

 

[Not a Number]

That's what mine were doing. As soon as I repotted them they perked up.


Two years ago the were in this state. You can see the plant on the lower right is in decline. That got progressively worse. And all the plants started to look like that.

no.1
Or doing stuff like this. Or just a green nub in the middle that did nothing.

no. 2
You can get an idea of the skirt of dead leaves, 2 or 3 years worth, from this photo and the first

no. 3

Here's some of them a few weeks after repotting them. For the first time in 4 years the flowers did not abort.

no. 4
You can make out from the plant in the lower some what the condition the plants were in when I repotted them. I trimmed off most of the skirts of dead leaves (about 3 inches worth) and buried the exposed stem.

no. 5

Here they are today (three months later from the picture immediately above - no. 5). As you can see the one crappy looking plant is recovering- a lot slower than the others. The smaller plants are offshoots that sprung up in the intervening 3 months.

no. 6
This is the "oopsie" pot. I snapped off most of the root of the big plant, maybe only 1/2" was left. The rest are offshoots of a plant that was mostly dead, just a green nub in the middle of skirt of dead leaves. The offshoots came up, the nub died. I trimmed out the dead skirt.

no. 7

My Drosera hamiltonii (Australian) were starting to decline in a similar fashion. I repotted those and they immediately perked up as well as start offshoots. I probably now have 3 or 4 times as many plants as I started out with.

 

[cpsammich]

Showoff