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A Christmas gift

*Sigh* I brought my Boston ferns in for the winter about a month ago. Couldn't leave them out in the cold all winter.

Yesterday I cleaned all the CP trays, and the nep tank out. What did I find? A bumper crop of little black insects, some winged, others not, covering my Drosera and trying to escape drowning in the water trays! And the Drosera don't seem too happy about the visitors either. The Utrics seem unphased so far, but I don't know. The nep, being in an enclosed terrarium, seemed untouched (so far).

Gonna have to go buy a magnifying lens tomorrow and try to identify the suckers... All I could find around the house was a microscope (too much maginification) and a camera (not enough). All I could tell was that they had 6 legs and were quite small (ant or smaller). I fear aphids!

The best I can figure is since the plants were all fine before, that something came in with the ferns, and is enjoying the winter holiday inside. *GRR!!*
 
Find orthene. It'll kill them buggers quick.
 
Hmm. Found a small magnifying glass after all. Didn't help much, even with my bifocals on...Two distinct types. The larger ones with wings are black and look like ants, but the abdomen is longer and the thorax smaller. Not so pronounced a 'waist'. I see them caught in the Drosera. Gnats, I think.

The smaller type ranges from 'almost ant-sized' to 'almost too small to see'. They appear to move by hopping, and I can't really make out any specifics of body structure other than long antennae, 6 legs, and vaguely rice-shaped. They appear green-to-blackish. These I can only see attempting escape from the water-trays and on the pots, I wouldn't be able to see these guys moving through the carpet moss and LFS at all. I'm sure they must be. The Drosera don't seem to have caught any. Aphids?!?! I'm not really sure, but I think so... Darn bad eyesight!
 
Orthene, huh? Well, my cats sometimes try to use the Bostons as a salad bar despite my best intentions. That makes me sort of fearful of pesticides. I'll check out Orthene tomorrow and see.

If I have to get rid of the (rather large) ferns, I might just do so, to avoid potential cat poisoning. But the CPs are small enough that I could try immersion/drowning the bugs. Is that generally an effective thing to do?
 
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