Need help with identifing pests, are they springtails or something else???

Anduryl

New Member
I just noticed this morning that my clay pebbles where invaded by some small non-flying insect. I kept reading all the info i could get my hands on and i think they are springtails but i am not 100% sure. If anyone knows what they are and how to get rid of them please respond.
I added 50 ml of Chlor to my 70 liters reservoir and gave them a quick rinse and they all climbed above the water. The video is made shortly after.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I have had Springtails before, and they are much easier to identify by How they move IN the res. They seem to Jump/Spring around. They didnt cause any Stress to the plants, and didnt hurt the Quantity/Quality of the Harvest.

After Harvest, I cleaned the Room and Grow Stuff with Bleach, then Heavy Insecticide, which got rid of them. I suspect they were coming INTO the house thru the Sump Pump in my basement (other side of growrrom wall), so I hit that area with Insecticide every few weeks. I have Not seen any in a while.

Good Luck!
 
They do seem to jump, but have you seen the video, if you had then you must know what they look like, do they look like in the video?
 
I read that inside out it does not say anything about springtails, and the other pests do not seem to match what i have.
 
Update: Still not shure if they are springtails. I am trying to dry the pebbles did not water for 24 hours. This morning i found a small caterpillar/larva on my left arm, do springtails have these? And if not what else could they be? I can't find AzaMax in my country any other sugestions on how to get rid of them?
 
Can you get Neem Oil? Neem Oil will help combat Most Insects that invade Our Plants.

Compare the Larvae in the Pest thread with Fungus Gnats, they are Most Common.
 
Can you get Neem Oil?

I'm a big fan of Neem oil. Been using it for years with great success. It acts as a prophylactic agent and actually protects the plants from infestations rather than blasting the infestation after it occurs.
You can add it to your water mix, but I use it in a foliar spray method once a week. 2 tsp Neem oil/gal with a few drops of Dawn dish soap to allow the oil and water to mix. I have doubled the strength of the mix when I've had occasional issues.

I got lazy not too long ago and missed a couple of weeks of my normal Neem routine. The spider mites oh so quickly reminded me.
 
Note about foliar feeding:
The plants absorb the foliar spray thru stomas on the under side of leaves. These stomas close when the temps approach 80f.
If you do adopt a foliar spray program, be sure to spray when the temps in your grow area are well below 80f (I shoot for 70f) and be sure to coat the underside of the leaves fully.
The other concern with Neem oil is that the oil can form little lenses to focus the light and cause physical burning. Be sure to apply under as little light as possible. I shut off my HID and turn some CFs on when I spray.
 
Ok so the springtails ( lets call them that even though i am not 100% sure) are in the claypebbles, i get neem oil as a preemptive strike, but i don't see what good can do to spray the plants when the plants are not infested. I need something i can put in the water so when i flood the pebbles it will kill the "springtails". Will neem oil work?
 
Excellent question for which I do not have an answer. As I'm starting some hempy pot of perlite, I find myself wondering that as well.
I have always sprayed my soil down well with the mix. While I feel that's been somewhat effective, I have seem some minor bug action in my soil pots.
I believe you're doing some sort of hydro. It would seem to make sense to apply it in your res and let it run over the medium.
Neem works by disrupting the electrical system of bugs. It enters their system when they chew or suck on your plant. If your bugs are ingesting anything in the water, it would enter their system that way. If they're chewing on some microscopic algae growing on your clay pebbles, it would enter their system at that point.

Most of these words are simply theoretical on my part. Perhaps a hydro grower that has tried neem in their system will chime in.

For the record, if I were doing an active hydro system, I would give it a try. Perhaps starting at 1/2 tsp neem to every gal of res water. Maybe boost to 1tsp/gal if nothing bad happened. I sure would have a lot of water in reserve for a flush if needed.
 
I grow with Turface, basically Tiny Pebbles which is SoilLess. I mix 1 Oz of Neem Oil and 1 Oz of Dish Soap for every Gallon you wish to make. I use a I Gallon Sprayer to Wet the top of my Medium, Foliar Spray the Plants, and Hit the Res's. It is an Oil, so it will float on the top of the water, so anything going in or out gets applied! Even though they say Neem Oil is safe to use till the day of Harvest, I avoid using the last 4 weeks of 12/12.
 
Wow... I sure hope it was a typo and that you meamt tsp instead of oz. An oz is a shot glass. That's probably 20 or 30 tsp.

I double checked the bottle, it does say 1 Oz per Gallon, the Dish Soap is something I picked up off the Forums. The Dish Soap is to help it mix better, and it is a Wetting agent... helps it stick to the bugs.

Experience tells me it forms an Oily layer ontop of the Res..... TRUTH! I have never experienced clogging. I have also gone as far as submerging the Whole Root System in this Mix with NO Ill effects to the plants.

BTW... 1 Oz = 2 Tbsp = 6 tsp = 30 ml
 
Ok so haven't done anything except for the first 50 ml of chlor, which seamed to really scare the shit out of them because as you can see in the video it drove them upwards on the res walls, since then when i water they do not seem to care as much. Have not seen any ill effect on the plants yet. The bottles of neem oil where like 250 ml for 40$ if i go with the 30 ml of neem oil for 4 litters that would mean 300 ml for 40 liters that's half my res. So basically if i do decide to buy the neem oil a bottle would not be enough for one time. Seams kind of a high dosage to me also. I started this thread beacuse i wanted people who had springtails in the past can say yap, that's it, although i don't see any damage since i first saw those nasty peckers.
 
I dont add 1 Oz per gallon of Res... I mix ONLY 1 Gallon in a Sprayer... and Spray the Plants, Medium, and Res's.

The problem with your plan is that the Video does not SHOW the actual Bug, I can see things Moving, but I Dont actually see what they look like. If you take a close-up, we could probably tell ya!

Here is a link to what I use... Shop Garden Safe 16-oz Neem Oil Extract Liquid at Lowes.com

Good Luck!
 
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