The tale of the Springtail

[Macky]

Springtails

You know how it is, the panic, the slight filling up of the tear ducts, and drop of the stomach as you find a bug living with your plants. You start looking up how much its gonna cost to hire a flame thrower, military grade napalm, even considering moving house! But sometimes, there is no need to panic to such levels.....

Some bugs are good, some are bad, some are just about in the middle, and will be pretty much neutral observers, looking for a nice place to live and raise their kids, without the risk of them being eaten in a horrific scene like something from a poorly made 1950s sci fi movie. Ohh the humanity....

Springtails, are tiny, white creatures that live in the medium, and there is always conflicting info on whether they are good or bad. So lets try and figure out what the story is here.

This is a springtail



They are only a few millimetres in length, and there will be hundreds of them living in your medium if you have them:



I have had springtails a couple of times. They like the moist medium, and as I usually grow in coco, and water everyday, they seem to enjoy living in my tent. I have also found, that when I have added Blackstrap molasses to the grow, I'm bound to get them. The first time I saw them, I was bricking it ( English for shitting my self ) but after some research I found, they're not really anything to be concerned about and as long as they don't get too over crowded, you wont have any problems with them. When ever you water you plants, they'll come out on top of the medium for a quick swim, and then hide again under the top layer.

They only like to eat dead, or decaying matter, they wont eat your live plants, but will eat leaves that die and fall on to the medium. They'll eat any mould spores on the surface of the medium too, which is always a good thing! What ever they eat, of course, will be digested and shit out into your medium, adding some nice healthy, natural nuits to the medium.

Though I can say I have never experienced any problems because of springtails, you can never really tell if a crop would have done better with, or without them, so you may choose you want to get rid of them, which is cool, your crop, your choice.

How to kill

As they like the moist medium, for a start you can let it dry out until your plants are wilting a little before watering them again, that will reduce the numbers. Pesticides are no good really, as there are so many of them living in the soil, you wont get them all and they will just come back. Its best to just vacuum the top of the medium to remove as many as you can, it will be just as effective as pesticides but zero chemicals. After the medium has dried out, and loads of them have died, and you've done your vacuuming, give a good watering. A lot are going to come out of the bottom of the pot with the run off, make sure you remove it all, so they dont get back into the medium ( A wet vac is good for this job). Do that a couple of times over a week, and they should be pretty much gone.

Its going to be hard to get rid of them all, so keeping the number way low, by leaving the medium to dry out, and vacuuming occasional, is the best option. When the crop is over, get rid of the old medium, clean all your pots trays and your tent thoroughly, before using them again. always let the top 2 inches of your medium dry out between watering to prevent the problem arising again in the future.

Just to point out, springtails will only live in the medium, and will not venture up onto your plant. As they are so small, and look very similar to thrips ( which do live on the plant and medium), if you see anything, that looks like a spring tail, but is on leaf or stem, it is more likely your have thrips rather than springtails. Stay vigilant, read what your plant is telling you. Your plant should show no ill effect from having spring tails. I have read articles saying springtails cause damage to leaves, but on closer inspection, they we all looking at thrip damage, not springtails, which will only live in the medium. As I said, they can be easily confused when you look at them, but the effects are much different.