Is this a fungus gnat? or root aphid?

Hydropponic_Happiness said:

Thanks for the response guys, how would I go about checking my roots? I recently (2 days ago) watered with predatory nematodes and today put a thin layer of vermiculite across all exposed soil.

Heres more info if you care, https://www.rollitup.org/t/first-ever-grow-a-few-questions-on-fungus-gnats-powder-mildew-treatment-and-leaf-discoloration.945059/

I'm just posting here to double check that that little shit is in fact a fungus gnat, because its body is much smaller than any I've seen online

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Hydropponic_Happiness said:

Trying to determine if I have a gnat or aphid problem. What is this little bugger?

In addition to a few of these that i've seen flying around, when i disturb the top of my soil i see super tiny white bugs crawling around, so small i cant get a picture before they burrow back into the dirt. Yesterday I watered with predatory nematodes

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Hydropponic_Happiness said:

Trying to determine if I have a gnat or aphid problem. What is this little bugger?

In addition to a few of these that i've seen flying around, when i disturb the top of my soil i see super tiny white bugs crawling around, so small i cant get a picture before they burrow back into the dirt. Yesterday I watered with predatory nematodes

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Cletus clem said:

The little white bugs are most likely springtails. Totally harmless. If anything beneficial but if you have to kill them to kill your pests, by all means. Some people just feel the need to kill anything that moves, when in actuality the springtails are competing with the fungus gnat larvae for food so if nothing else at least limiting the population.

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Hydropponic_Happiness said:

Wait, I'm a bit confused, the problem with fungus gnat larvae is that they eat my roots right? So if the Springdale is competeing for food with it, wouldn't that mean they would be eating my roots?

I do know that springtale are beneficial, just always assumed they ate already dead organic matter.

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