Greetings, I have two plants started a week apart. On one, the leaves are curling under and there are some brown spots/tips. The oldest one is about 2-3 weeks old. I run my finger through the soil, and i can see lots of tiny little bug like or maybe larvae types of creatures. Also, I see a lot of little tiny white ball kind of things that I am worried are eggs. Only the older plant has the bugs, but I can find the little white balls in the younger plant's soil as well. Is it a problem or is it normal to get these tiny bugs in the soil? I'm a total noob at this, just doing it mostly for fun, and appreciate the help. Jason I've attached photos as well... and the soil - with if you can see them, the little white balls. They may be just a part of the soil but I am not sure.
The lil white balls you see are perlite in the soil. Which you need to add more of. And do you actually see something flying like he asked ^^?
Every now and then I see a fruit fly flying around here and there, but the plant is just on a window sill and this wouldn't be uncommon. There are a LOT of these little "larva" in the soil. If I move even a little bit off the surface of the soil I can see atleast 4-5 of them scramble quite quickly and move back deeper into the soil. They are really quite small and you have to pay attention to notice them...
As small as the plant is, I'd replant in new soil. Some bugs can benefit your plant, but most do not. Give that container a few good knocks with your hand to loosten the soil, gently remove the root ball from the soil and remove all dirt/debris from the roots with your CLEAN HANDS. Then place in new container with fresh soil. Make sure you cover the root ball and most of stem after transplant, this will help with new root growth!
Well, if you wanna get rid of them, whatever they may be, here you go: http://forum.grasscity.com/showthread.php?t=84527&highlight=pests I haven't seen a single pest since I used Guru's insecticide.
That's not a fruit fly you are seeing... It is a fungus gnat, and yes they are bad. It is normally a result of soil being far too moist, hard to tell by a pic but it does look pretty wet (Bottom pic). How often and how much do you water?
Thanks people, I transplanted the thing today so we'll see how it does. when I dug the soil up, I could see that there was a bunch of fungus in the soil. I think the thing is way over-watered by myself - not uncommon, I'm not generally known to be good with plants. But growing MJ is good motivation to get better at it! Any good watering tips for a natural light soil grower?
When they are just starting you should just put them in moist soil. A texture so that it will clump if you squease it but break apart easily. Then you really shouldn't need to water again till it's full sprouted unless the rH is low. If so just keep it slightly moist. Once it gets growing then just saturate nicely and don't water again till it's nearly dry, not pulling away from the side of the container dry.