Found these in my soil today. Not sure if the are good or bad. Hoping not bad, sorry about the bad pics
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White soil mites?
If so, they just feed on decaying matter from what I’ve been able to google up.
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Nice thanks a lot @cannaloop! Sick bass line to that video too. They appeared after I gave them some compost tea this morning.
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I’d agree that there soil mites, are they fast movers for there size? They don’t look the the hypoaspis miles variety though IMO!
They move pretty slow actually, got me kinda scared thinking the maybe aphids. I’ve had hypoaspis miles before and they don’t move as quick. Thanks for the reply
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I don’t think I’v ever had root aphids before so not positive but I tried a couple of google searches for pics! Do these bugs have a set of 3 tail pipes? From my knowledge of predatory beneficial mites most if not all are really fast movers!
Most aphids I’m aware of come in as winged adults and reside on foliage and stems of plants , lay eggs and suck the juices from your precious plants!
No tail pipes. Yeah I’ve read before that if they are fast they are predatory. These guys are slow. Kinda just letting ride right now.
Yeah I do have gnats.
Get your sticky traps up pronto! Water less frequently and from the bottom if possible let that top dry out… check out other threads on how to deal with these little Devils!
Hell yeah man I’ll do that tonight. It’d be cool to get an bug identification thread going here. Maybe there is one already.
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I’m not a bug expert by any means but can identify a few bugs here there with 100% confidence there can be a lot of misled information out there so beware I’m sure there’s others here with a tons worth more knowledge than I can provide! I would like to see a better close up of the bug in particular though ! Do you have a loupe? I’v taken some shots with iPhone through a 30X loupe before with great results!
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Bug identification is difficult even for entomologists. I would agree with cannaloop that it is a soil/bulbous/grain mite. They are detrituvours and will eat decomposing material. If you have a balanced living soil, they are simply part of the soil food web.
If you start seeing them on the foliage, you might get concerned, otherwise LITFA.
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No man I don’t have a loupe, I think I’ll order one here soon tho.
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Right on man. I’m always fascinated/nervous everything I see a different bug in my soil. I also find out a lot information when I’m researching what it may be. For now I’m going the LITFA route, shits dank.
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I just read this in your post and they brought back a childhood memory of climbing our barn ladder and seeing these tiny guys crawling all over the walls. They other side of the wall of the grain bin/room. They are bigger than the evil two spotted mite.
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I usually sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on the soil and hang sticky traps when I see them.