I was checking the run off and I noticed the water looked like it was flickering. I put it to scope and found these guys in it. Anyone know if they are harmful?
Those are springtails and I have them with no worries. They came from my worm bin. I have various “bugs” in my soil plus worms and I like having them there. None climb on the plants but they do eat the mulch I put on top of soil and organic nutrients that I top dress with.
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I was going to say the same. Are you using living soil by any chance
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No I’m not. I’ve never seen them in there before. The ones in your pictures look bigger. These I had to use a microscope to see.
I looked them up and this worries me a little.
“Springtails are mostly a nuisance pest, doing little damage to plants. They will chew roots in the soil where they’re located, and can inhibit plant hardiness.“
I’ve read that too but I’ve had them since my first grow and to my knowledge haven’t had any ill effects growing maybe 60-70 plants over the last 2 plus years. They eat many things and I use mulch (Straw and old cannabis leaves) and organic nutrients like Neam meal and kelp meal and such and they and the other good bugs in my soil and the red wrigglers chow down on that stuff and poop out food for the plants.
When I pull back the mulch and dig down a bit I see them hopping or sprintailing around eating the top stuff. I’ve also read articles where they say no worries.
Mother Nature should be embraced and not destroyed when possible and if needed use organic methods to fight the bad bugs.
Go to arbico Organics they have a Little critter you can get from them that does combat springtails if your worried about them.
I’ve ordered from them and they have some great solutions for those pest bugs.
Hope this helps and keep feeding your cannabinoid system
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