Yea, I could only hope that's what they are but I feel you on not ever being comfortable with having them. My soil is FFOF. I have pulled soil out of the bag to check and see if they were in there and saw none, but are on the lone plant's soil that was potted with that bag of soil.
This is what I had: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejAuzd9-bHo]YouTube - This is my other plant with the same bugs in the soil[/ame] If nothing else works you're just gonna have to do what I did and thats flushing and repotting. Good luck!
No, those are not what I have, those appear to be fatter than what I got. These things are literally the size of a grain of sand. They crawl similar but no where near as big, let alone able to be captured by video or still-camera.
I just got back from the hydro store and told one of the guys there about your problem. He asked me how you knew it wasn't larvae. I told him you had it under a microscope. He said a lot of people think of larvae as being long and slimy looking but that it can crawl around like little tiny bugs. He didn't say that it was or wasn't larvae. He really didn't know without seeing it.
Wow, thanks for the thought with asking on my behalf. I have to agree though that it's tough to say without seeing exactly what they are. The mystery continues...
These things were very tiny, about half the size of a tiny black ant. I had to use macro mode and go in VERY close to capture them on camera. Try letting your soil dry out and water very little, just enough to keep the plant alive. Sometimes drying out the soil kills them.
ive had the same thing in my soil many times, i was always under the impression they were beneficial because the never got on any of my plants, or really did anything other than move around whenever i would water. i also use molasses. i have had spider mites and gnats before and used einstein oil to fix, i dont think they are any type of larva, sometimes when i would water i would look closely at them watch them squirm around.
The bodies on the bugs on the video were more robust and more prominent than what I've seen from my eye's and my scope that goes from x30-x100. I'm still not ruling it out, just from what I see, we have different bugs. I have allowed the soil to dry out to the point of almost losing my girl, and they were still making their presence known. I got another hour until the lights come on, I will see if I can collect a few and catch an image of them. I got a great camera, just don't have a lens that has the ability to get a close shot.
Yea, I had a fellow grower over to give me their take on what they were and they said they weren't spider mites. Granted, this was just by the eye and not under a scope, but they would know as they have spider mites in their garden. I was told that I shouldn't worry but I would like to move her back into general population and save my electric bill.
Just collect some live or dead and take them to a hydro store. They should be able to tell you what they are and what you can do about them. Your plant was in a different soil before transplanting into FFOF?
I would love to have that option, but unfortunately I only have one around me and the knowledge is nil there. The owner there has a high turn-over rate and it's nothing but teen's that are clueless about knowing anything there. However, I have another route to go, I will speak with people around me that have nurseries, I'm sure they will know.
That sucks. The one by me you can tell, they are all growers. They know what I am doing and I feel totally comfortable explainging my problems or asking questions. You can tell they are in business and cater to one type of person. That's what's so cool about it. I can ask questions about products and what and how to use them and they are straight up with me. I don't feel like I have to lie about what I am doing. If your plant was in a different soil than what it's in now that could be where they came from. Course thats just a guess. I think I read your using FFOF. Well good luck with your problem searching. Hopefully the nursery will have an answer for you.
Ok, I think I got good enough pics to better help with an answer. There are a few here, one pic will be the bug at the closest I could possibly get within a focused pic, and the next will be the same pic just cropped and zoomed in to show. Like I mentioned prior, I always thought they were spider mites based on looks but the fact that my leaves nor any part of my plant have them on her tells me that I'm confused.
skunky-Sorry to bypass a question you asked earlier. I use nothing but FFOF, so she has only seen that soil.
Yep those are what I had. They're soil mites called "Hypoaspis Miles" Read these: http://www.biobest.be/v1/en/producten/nuttig/hypoaspis_miles.htm (some people actually introduce these to their crops) and Soil Mites - McLean County - University of Illinois Extension (Talks about how to get rid of them) Says to do exactly what I said.. let the soil dry or re-pot. I think they are harmless but I know is still not comforting having them around especially indoors.
Right on, those are them! I can't be happier right now, I was looking to order predator mites too and found out they can't ship to my location. I'm actually relieved and stoked to have them in that case. I am smiling ear to ear.
Do they jump around? I read on another forum if you spray them with water and isopropyl alcohol and they jump, they are Springtails. Also could be Whiteflies that are not mature yet. Great! just saw you got it figured out. I thought it looked like some kind of mite after seeing your pic. Don't seem like they are that bad to have.
CASE CLOSED. I thank you all for the time and input and couldn't be more grateful to each of you. Muuuaaahhhhh.
No jumping and the link that Jolly provided with the pic matched exactly what I saw under my scope. All they do is crawl and stay off the plant.