little white jumping insects in soil? read this first!

Discussion in 'Sick Plants and Problems' started by schmoookin, Apr 29, 2011.

  1. Hi there, i had this problem and it completely screwed my head up for days, however, with much research and stress i finally found the answer...
    If you have little white jumping insects that rise to the surface then they are springtails.
    This is caused by over-watering your plants and forcing your growing medium to decompose and encourage the reproduction of springtails...however...DONT BE ALARMED.
    They are vital to the microflora and need controlling and NOT ERADICATION.

    Not only are springtails harmless to the garden, but their presence
    indicates good soil health. Their diet consists of decaying matter,
    fungus, & bacteria, & their activity helps keep nitrogen in the soil. A
    radical explosion in their population might be an indicator that something
    in the organic balance is out of wack, though it probably means only that
    there are excesses of mushroom spoors which can increase springtail
    populations since springtails go after the mushroom spoors like kids after
    halloween candy, & a black springtail called "snowflea" even hops around
    after snowfall gathering up fungal spoors from the surface of the snow. If
    springtails vanish that means the microflora is probably also missing or
    that soil is never sufficiently moist to support either springtails or
    microflora. In which case the plants will be at great risk too.

    Attempting to get rid of them by drying out the garden would be equally
    harmful to microflora, only the springtails would weather the drought

    Some springtails are so small they will never be seen by the even
    moderately farsighted. Tinier-than-average varieties are encountered in
    potted indoor plants, but they restrict their activity to the soil & don't
    spread elsewhere in the house, & are NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR HOUSEPLANTS!

    So what you need to do if you have an explosive population is let your plants dry out and when you re-commence watering start with a known amount per day, if they start to droop and dry out further increase the amount until you find the RDA (recommended daily amount) for your environment and stick with that amount and increase slightly as your plant roots grow and require more.

    DO NOT attempt to remove them completely as they are a vital element of the micro-culture living in your soil

    Although springtails are a sign of good healthy soil & ideal plant
    conditions, many vendors of various pesticides recommend getting rid of
    them. Because chemical vendors don't care to distinguish between what is
    helpful & what is harmful, they just want to sell more of their products.

    I hope this clears this matter up once and for all for all the people world-wide that experience this problem.

    Love and peace and bless the internet

    Just Schmoookin
     

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