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Springtails on my Live Sphagnum Moss

Hello all, couple of weeks ago I started to see little black bugs jumping out when I was misting my live sphagnum moss with water. What I would do is kill them once I saw one. But now it has gotten out of control! It has now made a nice colony in my moss and has tranfered over to my Sarr. seedlings that are about 1 month old, and other plants too. I know they are springtails based on my reserach. I was reading they are harmless and eat dead material and fungi. However it is really bothering me. So how can I erradicate them without killing my moss and sarracenia seedlings? can someone please help?
Any additional comments will be helpful! :)

--Jesse
 
really is no way to get rid of them...wherever there is soil and decaying plant matter, there will forever be springtails....though i dont see many in my ping trays...i wonder why ;) you could just get a ton of pings and pygmy dews.... it will help reduce it Lol.
 
Yup, even one or two pots of sticky leaved plants will take care of the majority of the hopping, flying things that come along in soils. At the orchid show almost every display had some pings on the table somewhere as fly control.

With bigger Neps you can do a very carefully controlled drought. Let the soil dry a good amount (pretty much "dry") but spray the leaves with water daily to keep the plant itself well hydrated this will easily kill off a bulk of them and their larvae who are in the soil. Go back to the normal watering routine after the drought and see if the problem is solved if not do it again. With other finickier and smaller plants you certainly don't have this luxury they'll likely die fast with dry soil.
 
Its weird how I am growing my moss indoors and got springtails. Maybe the eggs were dormant or something like that. I do have Sundews and Pings. hahaha my moss is on one side of the vivarium and the pings are on the other side. (Ironic) Ill just have to re-organize everything. On my nepenthes I have not seen any springtails maybe because I do have my plants on the drier side just like you said swords.
This looks very unattractive what if someone looks at my plants and says "eww you are dirty, you have a pest in your plants!) :-)) thanks.

--Jesse
 
well anyone with horticulture experience should know what a springtail is....ive had several friends look at my plants, see springtails crawling around on some of them and say what are these tiny bugs, i just tell them to poke at them....they get a kick out of the bugs bouncing away. they can just as easily come in on your shoe, shirt, pants, or hair or anything for that matter, go outside and take a close look at the soil in your yard or garden and im almost positive youll find a springtail almost instantly....they are everywhere. i just welcome them as a source of food for my smaller plants including baby neps and sarras.
 
With bigger Neps you can do a very carefully controlled drought. Let the soil dry a good amount (pretty much "dry") but spray the leaves with water daily to keep the plant itself well hydrated this will easily kill off a bulk of them and their larvae who are in the soil. Go back to the normal watering routine after the drought and see if the problem is solved if not do it again. With other finickier and smaller plants you certainly don't have this luxury they'll likely die fast with dry soil.

This drought method works for fungus gnats also..
 
I think thats why they recommend you also wash your moss before using, er rinse that is. Get rid of any eggs or other foreign material you dont want growing in perfect conditions

Its weird how I am growing my moss indoors and got springtails. Maybe the eggs were dormant or something like that. I do have Sundews and Pings. hahaha my moss is on one side of the vivarium and the pings are on the other side. (Ironic) Ill just have to re-organize everything. On my nepenthes I have not seen any springtails maybe because I do have my plants on the drier side just like you said swords.
This looks very unattractive what if someone looks at my plants and says "eww you are dirty, you have a pest in your plants!) :-)) thanks.

--Jesse
 
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