Anybody know what creepy crawlies is in my attar of roses pelargonium? Had them a few weeks ago, sprayed with soapy water. They died. This morning they were back. The plant is just a tiny little baby, I’m worried it’s something that’ll kill the plant.
Update: Thanks everyone! I’ve done a good round of Google -ing now on springtails. Definitely looks like the case . The plant doesn’t seem to mind, but I’ll keep in mind not to overwater the little baby . Thank you for your advise!
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As others have said, springtails.
They usually only eat dead stuff, but still can harm the plant sometimes. But mostly, they’re disgusting imo.Best ways to get rid of them:
- Don’t overwater your soil. Keep it on the dryer side and add some drainage (stones on the bottom, some perlite, etc.) to keep everything aerated
- Or, try switching to inorganic substrate, e.g. pon or LECA. That way, you can get rid of pretty much any soil living pest. But by transplanting the plant you can also kill it, especially since it’s already stressed.
Springtails? You can test by seeing if they jump away from you.
If so, I think they only eat dead stuff. But I also heard they can sometimes chew on roots (and there are a lot of them here…)
Lets hope so! I’m gonna change the soil today, just in case.
Probably springtails. They are not harmful, but may indicate overwatering (unless the plant needs constantly wet soil). They eat fungi and float in water, which is cool.
I recognize those from every Serpa Design terrarium video ever made: “Next I put in springtails to control fungus, and eat dead plant matter.”
They look like springtails to me. I use springtails and isopods in my gecko’s terrarium as a clean up crew.
The isopods eat the poop while the springtails eat any mold that would grow in moist conditions. I do have plants in there too so all that bug poop goes right back into the soil to be reused.
They can’t survive outside of a moist environment for long and will simply dry out. I have no idea how harmful they are to plants alone but at least you don’t have to worry about mold.
Hans…
