Fleas!

[jimscott]

I have a P. medusina plant. It is growing new leaves and had grease. It also has what looks like fleas living in the pot. It is the only pot amongst the rack of pings displaying critters. How I discovered it was via top watering. I saw what looks just like the fleas I have seen on pets. They hop. I know what aphids look like and they're not aphids. I tried taking a picture but couldn't get one. I did the drowning thing. Anybody ever experience this?

 

[Baylorguy]

Springtails maybe? They are just about in every single pot I have.

 

[theyellowdart]

They are probably springtails, which are completely harmelss to you and your plant. They may even benefit by being an extra snack.

Here is a picture of one. (However, they do tend to vary from what I've seen.)

In my experience, they will just go away if you leave them alone.

 

[Baylorguy]

Jim, bet you your pings will make short work of them!

 

[jimscott]

They are probably springtails, which are completely harmelss to you and your plant. They may even benefit by being an extra snack.

Here is a picture of one. (However, they do tend to vary from what I've seen.)

In my experience, they will just go away if you leave them alone.

IDK... they looked like my cat's fleas. They hopped.

 

[Not a Number]

Some springtails hop, that have a little lever thingy on their rear-end that gives them their name.

Are they flat like fleas?

 

[jimscott]

They seem to be flat like a flea, but I don't get long to see them before they hop away. I only see them when watering from the top and then they scatter. They don't seem to harming anything. I tried capturing them on the camera but wasn't fast enough.

 

[mark.ca]

Springtails for sure, Jim! They don't like the water much and they hop around like crazy when i water my plants....good adition since the plants feed on them and they don't seem to cause any problems.

 

[jimscott]

I'll see if I can get them to hop in the right direction!

 

[kentosaurs]

OoOoOo i too have some tiny white "bugs" which moves very fast in and on the surface on some of my pot

Ken

 

[Not a Number]

Jimscott: Maybe your cats have springtails

kentosaurs: sounds like you have springtails

Of course you can always try to make a flea trap the either Peter or Barry talk about. At night put Pinguicula and Drosera on a tray under a very low wattage incandescent light. A night light perhaps 5-10 watts. The fleas are attracted to the light and heat of the bulb and get trapped.

 

[EdaxFlamma]

I actually use that exact same method to get rid of the fruit flies in my kitchen! One little light behind a net of D. binata multifida and most fruit fly issues are over.

 

[jimscott]

I tried taking pictures today but just couldn't get anything close to decent.

 

[rattler]

if they are living in a plant pot they are highly unlikely to be fleas..........

 

[jimscott]

if they are living in a plant pot they are highly unlikely to be fleas..........

Oh I realize that. It's just that there were little hopping bugs in my pots a few years ago and they were considerably larger. I thought those were springtails. I never saw these things before and I could best equate their appearance to fleas. Hey, as long as they aren't harming my plants, I suppose I can live with them.