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White bugs in utric pot...

Hey all, I was trimming down some sphagnum that was over running my U. Dichotoma pot and noticed a whole ton of little white bugs that almost look like fleas. I'm not really sure what they are, but they seemed to be hiding in the sphagnum. They hop around a lot, I haven't really noticed wings on them as of yet. I tried submersing the pot, there seems to be what almost looks like shell casings for them floating, but some of the bugs just hop around on the water. Really annoying.

Any ideas?
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Hey Vertigo,

What you got there are springtails. These guys are probably in all your pots, they are not a pest in my collection, eating only the dead stuff lying around. If you have a really weak plant they might take it down but even then I doubt it. They also make good food for some Pings and if one were to find a trap large enough a Utric would make quick work of it.
 
Hehe, I guess that means that I need to clean out any dead leaves a little bit faster. I'll move the larger U. Longifolia next to it, as well as the few drosera that I have...make sure everyone gets a bite. I don't have any ping's yet, so that's out.

Do they usually damage seedlings or cuttings at all?
 
I have never seen any of them attack living tissue in my collection. Many times I will knock leaves off Pings and just leave then in the pot to root and even though there aer springtails swarming throught my Ping pots the cuttings are left alone.
 
Pyro,

Thanks for the help. Seems the only tried and true way of getting rid of them is to let the substrate dry out, which would probably not be so good for the Utric. Since they don't really do much damage, i'll leave them to the fate of my plants. Just freaked me out how many were living in the live sphagnum. I haven't seen any in any other pots yet, but I figure they're there, jumping everywhere.

Better get those ping seeds planted. Thanks again.
 
I have tried drying them out, and eighther it doesnt hurt them, or they repopulated from a different pot. They dont bother me, so I basically just ignore them.

Cole
 
Vertigo,

You can flood them out but it is tricky. Their cuticle is very hydrophobic so if you fully submerge the pot all of them should float to the surface. Just skim them off. The problem with this is that air pockets always remain in the pot somewhere and a few will hide out there and repopulate. If you have the light and space for it you could try for a sustained submerged period (1-2 weeks)
 
Pyro,

Yeah, they were definately floating and hopping on the water. I'm just kind of suprised that I noticed it in a pot of U. dichotoma. I'm not sure if the sphagnum choked out some of the leaves or if that's just where they made their nest, but when I trimmed it up it was almost orange underneath. The U. dichotoma seems to be growing away from that spot as well. I read somewhere that certain spring tails do eat roots and seedlings, but it seems to be really rare. I'm just going to keep an eye on it for now, i'll see what happens if I surround it by sundews as well. Hehe, we'll see if my D. binata 'multifida' plantlets like them.
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Make sure they aren't thrips - I've had problems with them before. The signs of infestation are pretty obvious - silvery white patches on the leaves with tiny green dots of excrement. But if they're jumping they are probably just springtails.
 
  • #10
Dodec,

There's no obvious damage to any leaves that I can see (aside from the fact that I found a group formed into a rosette under some thick sphagnum that almost looks like it has a few tendrils on the tips). The leaves are a nice consistant green, no markings. I also found something that looks almost like a lady bug only black and white and almost a skull on it's back. Not sure what that one is now...well, it seemed to be lunch hanging onto a drosera last I saw it.
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  • #11
Um, can springtails be grey. I still have these unidentified grey bouncy things that are to small for me to see details on and to fast to shove under a microscope for ID. I also now have equally microscoping little round insects with big antinie (compaired to their invisable legs). Both eat my VFT leftovers.
 
  • #12
Springtails can be grey, green, brown, black, white, silver... Pretty much any colour that would blend with soil
 
  • #13
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Pyro @ April 04 2003,12:38)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Springtails can be grey, green, brown, black, white, silver... Pretty much any colour that would blend with soil[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
cool. Thats what I origenally thought they were, but then I wasn't so sure. Now I am though
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  • #14
Darcie,

Yeah, the one's in my pot vary between gray, white and gray-whitish yellowishish...
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Yup, gray-whitish yellowishish. Freaky when you see a swarm though.
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