White insects swarming on my potting mix

[Grayson]

I don't know what they are, but they only appeared this evening after 2 days of non-stop light-moderate rainfall. I checked the leaves and the stem and didn't find any. Also, they seemed to be congregating on only one pot. I saw a few stragglers on the bucket beside it - also on the soil.

They were moving slowly and didn't seem to be bothered when I poured water on them. When the water drained through the soil, they started milling about again.

[Starlight]

My guess is fungus gnat larvae. They are small and white and eat your plant roots until they turn into adults and then they will fly around and find more moist soil to lay eggs in.

Hopefully others will chime in.

[Grayson]

Thanks. Took a few shots with the point and shoot. These were the best I could manage with the limited zoom as they were really small.

[Grayson]

Also found 3 of these skulking around by the edge of the bucket:

[Starlight]

A beetle for sure and not the Colorado Potato Bug, but it may a close relative.

Go to this site:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/582/bgimage

scroll down to bottom of page and look at last beetles the ones without the stripes and see if looks close. There lots of pages with beetle type pics and maybe you'll be able to find yours.

For your fungus gnats. Keeping soil on the dry side helps. The adults like to lay their eggs in moist soil and just barely under the surface. There several non pesticide ways to get rid of them. Such as sprinkling cinnamon on the surface and if your able doing a shallow surface scratch to get more cinnamon in the top 1/16" of the soil. Laying pieces of potato slices helps too. The adults will lay their eggs in the potato slices and just toss out every few days and put out new. Adults are hard to get rid of. Now if you have some hummingbirds over there, they love em, other than sticky cards is the only thing I know to try and catch them. The tiniest breath will send the adults flying.

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Grayson

Thanks. Took a few shots with the point and shoot. These were the best I could manage with the limited zoom as they were really small.

Those are probably springtails. I see them frequently in my worm bin. They're harmless but a sign that your medium is high in organic matter and too wet. Is your potting mix one of the moisture-retentive organic ones? Those are notorious for breeding such critters. At least it's not fungus gnats... at least, not yet.

They should reduce in population on their own when your conditions dry out.

[Grayson]

Originally Posted by Starlight

For your fungus gnats. Keeping soil on the dry side helps. The adults like to lay their eggs in moist soil and just barely under the surface. There several non pesticide ways to get rid of them. Such as sprinkling cinnamon on the surface and if your able doing a shallow surface scratch to get more cinnamon in the top 1/16" of the soil. Laying pieces of potato slices helps too. The adults will lay their eggs in the potato slices and just toss out every few days and put out new. Adults are hard to get rid of. Now if you have some hummingbirds over there, they love em, other than sticky cards is the only thing I know to try and catch them. The tiniest breath will send the adults flying.

Originally Posted by gorbelly

Those are probably springtails. I see them frequently in my worm bin. They're harmless but a sign that your medium is high in organic matter and too wet. Is your potting mix one of the moisture-retentive organic ones? Those are notorious for breeding such critters. At least it's not fungus gnats... at least, not yet.

They should reduce in population on their own when your conditions dry out.

If they are springtails, should I still push through with the cinnamon sprinkling? Hummingbirds are out of the question because I don't think they can be found even in the non-urban parts of this country.

Observing their behavior, I noticed they appeared during the consecutive rainy days. During the day, when the soil is mostly dry on the surface, I can only see a few white specks. At night, it's a party (since it usually rains during the afternoon). I don't notice the jump, but they have a hard time crawling about in a plastic container. The most they can do is wriggle in place. About the organic matter part, I'm just surprised that they handpicked the shortest plant with the small 2 gallon pot. If there is anything organic, the most likely candidate would have been my #2 plant because it still has remnants of that milk growth and some buried fresh leaves.

The tiny orange beetles also appeared over the weekend, but are congregating on the taller plant - by the bucket's rim and on the soil. I counted 8 of them now.

EDIT: For potting soil, I still use Klasmann Deilmann Florabella Potting Soil: All-purpose potting soil with high-absorption clay granules and high water-storage capacity. Good drainage guaranteed, easily wettable (copy-pasted from their webpage).

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Grayson

If they are springtails, should I still push through with the cinnamon sprinkling?

TBH, I've tried cinnamon for actual fungus gnats, and it didn't do much at all. IMHO, it's a waste of cinnamon, though it does make everything smell very nice.

I wouldn't bother to do anything for springtails. They don't hurt anything. They're just feeding on organic matter. If anything, they're mildly beneficial, as they're essentially composters. The only reason to do anything about them is if they're on indoor plants and causing an annoyance to people who don't like to have bugs in the house.

The bigger concern is that they're a symptom of an excessive moisture issue. Your growing medium is probably way wetter than tomatoes like it. Wet feet for too long can cause root rot, nutrient uptake problems, etc.

And if the springtails are happy, fungus gnats will find the environment awesome, and you really don't want fungus gnats. They're incredibly annoying, and if you have them in the environment and later start seedlings, etc., they can contribute to damping off and eat up the roots of young seedlings.

[dmforcier]

For potting soil, I still use Klasmann Deilmann Florabella Potting Soil: All-purpose potting soil with high-absorption clay granules and high water-storage capacity. Good drainage guaranteed, easily wettable...

Hi Grayson,

IMO this is not what you want. You want a mix that does not retain water so readily. If I understand the climate over there, you have heat (esp. Philippines) but nothing like drought. Rather, you want a good-draining mix with good oxygen retention, i.e. implying a goodly dose of perlite.

Container mix is a topic all its own, and can be non-intuitive.

Dennis

[zipcode]

The Florabella potting soil isn't bad at all. The biggest mistake smart people make, is to read too much about potting soil and thinking that they need the famous 5-1-1 mix for the pots, go to all that trouble and then have huge BER problems because the 5-1-1 is ideal for self watering not for top watering.

[Starlight]

I would follow Dennis and Zipcode's suggestions about the soil.

You may or may not want to do this, but we went from severe drought to rain everyday for the past week and will have it for over the next week too. My containers were getting waterlogged and I have a good draining soil. To prevent BER and to let them dry out, I took black plastic trash bags and put it around the top of the container and tied with a tie twisty.

I left a good size space so there plenty of air circulation and made sure drainage holes weren't blocked. It's kind of like planting in black plastic on the ground, but only using a container. I'd just go out everyday and dump the excess water off the top of the plastic. I just took the plastic off today so mine can get a drink. Trash bags had been on for 3 days and still the soil moist but it not soggy anymore. May not be a solution for you, but has helped my crop.

[dmforcier]

No, zipcode, I am not necessarily advocating 5:1:1. But there is a huge range between that and a soil that advertises how well it stays wet.

[Shapshftr]

Originally Posted by Grayson

Also found 3 of these skulking around by the edge of the bucket:

Those look like some sort of flea beetle. There are many different types. They chew holes in the leaves. Here's one that looks similar:

http://www.ent.uga.edu/veg/colecrops/fleabeetle.htm

Don't know about the other ones. What you describe sounds like the fungus gnats I had one year, but don't look anything like them. Maybe they are springtails, which I know nothing of. I can say I used cinnamon for the fungus gnats and it didn't do anything. I also tried Spinosad for them but to no avail.

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by Shapshftr

I can say I used cinnamon for the fungus gnats and it didn't do anything. I also tried Spinosad for them but to no avail.

Fungus gnats are long flies, like blackflies and mosquitoes. Their larvae will be killed by Bti (but not Btk). Gnatrol is a Bti product for fungus gnat control.

[Shapshftr]

Originally Posted by gorbelly

Fungus gnats are long flies, like blackflies and mosquitoes. Their larvae will be killed by Bti (but not Btk). Gnatrol is a Bti product for fungus gnat control.

Good to know. I was looking for gnatrol that year but couldn't find it. Now it's everywhere I look.