Spider mites or trippin?

[Justones]

So I've suspected spider mites for a while. But never really seen them. Today I was flushing the pots with water. I got in close while the pot was draining & it had standing water. I seen tiny little white things twiching in the water. Then I swear a couple of them jumped once the water drained & they could touch something solid to jump from. Wtf were those crazy bastards?

 

[Justones]

All I could find on google was something called spring tails. They eat fungus on your soil.

 

[AKgramma]

You're probably right. Or larval fungus gnats.

Spider mites don't jump. They crawl and lay teeny white eggs all over the underside of your leaves. They look like black or reddish specs of moving dirt. Mites are crustaceans and don't have a larval stage. They hatch into miniature adults.

An inch or so of sand or diatomaceaous earth in each pot will kill the fungus gnats in the soil.

 

[Justones]

Thanks. That sand sounds like a good idea. Right now I have a fan I use that blows sweeping side to side. I figure a little extra wind might make it harder on the flying pest.

 

[cbgb]

hey justones and welcome to 420 ak is right on as usual ,he has always been of great help to me in the past..here is my 2 cents , lol ...... mites are black and you find them under the leaves ... turn a leaf over and with a mag glass or jeweler loop to spot them. they can do damage if not caught early. fungus gnats as ak said.......... and if you have a few flying around , good old fashion fly paper will do the trick along w/ the layer of sand !! best of luck , keep us posted and check out the sponsor page for great growing products !!

 

[AngryBird]

 

[AngryBird]

the gnats you will see in soil digging around.. place a little glass of vinegar and dish washing liquid next to plant ( safely so it doesn't tip over)
In 12hrs TOPS you will see bugs in there ( black ones - fungus gnats)

 

[AKgramma]

Thanks. That sand sounds like a good idea. Right now I have a fan I use that blows sweeping side to side. I figure a little extra wind might make it harder on the flying pest.

The adults flying around are annoying as Hell, but it's their larvae in the soil that are eating the roots. The adults will die soon, cause they just breed and die. Forget them. You need to use diatomaceaous earth on the soil to at least 1" to kill those wigglers. We used to use it in our office plants, and once the adults died, we saw no more new adults buzzing around our heads.