springtails

[Zero]

I recently found some springtails in one of my pots.
They look just like the ones in this video.
They are harmless right?
It kinda freaks me out when I find any type of small insects on a plant or in the soil.
I don't want to bring all my plants outside to spray with toxic insecticide if I don't have to.
Peace,
Zero

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GMNW5rS1Lso&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GMNW5rS1Lso&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

 

[Taliesin-DS]

OMG! thats a lot.
I've never seen more then one or two at the same time.

 

[swords]

Taliesin, that's a video of a Springtail culture, I have one going myself in a bin of waterlogged charcoal under the Anole vivarium, mines not that developed yet, only about half that population density so far.

In a vivarium Sprintails are beneficial eating dead plant matter / leaf litter, uneaten food, molds, etc. but what they might do in relatively sterile plant pot who knows. I put orange Isopods (Porcellio sp.) in all my vivariums as a clean up crew / food item and they do not harm the plants since they have plenty to eat but I have heard people say they will eat live plants if there is nothing else for them.

One last thought, are you sure they're Springtails and not young Fungus Gnats? Those are more common, esp. this time of year for me.

 

[Not a Number]

If there is no food source the springtails will either move on and/or die out. When I bring a pot with a peat mix in from outdoors and put it next to my Mexican Pinguicula the Pinguicula pots (no peat moss) will swarm with springtails. After a few weeks there's not a springtail to be found in the Pinguicula pots.

As far as I know they eat only decaying matter. Springtails can vector some plant disease. Springtails are a good source of nutrition for Drosera, Sarracenia and Darlingtonia seedlings.

Everything you could want to know about Collembola (springtails):
http://www.collembola.org/taxa/collembo.htm

 

[Zero]

Thanks for the info.
I may plant some pings in my nep pots.
The pots that have springtails have a bunch of them.
Peace,
Zero

 

[herenorthere]

Springtails are mentioned in the book I'm reading - Life: An Unauthorised Biography - and it says there are springtail fossils in Scotland's Rhynie Chert, which is 410 million years old. You're sharing your pots with some guys who have quite a pedigree.