the little guys have a off white body color and I am not sure if the heads are red, brown, or both. The bugs have been in my soil for quite some time now, but my plant has shown no signs of being eaten or dying from these bugs. It has been a bit over 6 weeks since I first bought the plant as a clone. are these bugs beneficial or should i be concerned?? also the bugs i believe have 2 of their legs in the front are slightly longer than the rest, but I am not fully shire on this.
Need serious help Bug species in soil, not sure what type of insect it exactly is
- Thread starter chris h
- Start date
Possibly Fungus Gnats Larvae... They are clear to creamy-white in color with a shiny black head and can bee up to .25 inches long...
They eat roots and root hairs and orgnic matter, which weakens the plant... If they are let the soil dry out as much as they can tolerate about 1 inch in depth dry... A light layer of vermiculite, perlite or Diatomaceous Earth will help provide this...
fungus knats, are you using Miracle Grow?
Alias15927
Member
Some forms of Miracle grow soils have predatory insects. All the soils I use have them and they are actually beneficial, they eat bad bugs and leave the plants alone.
It is hard to tell by your description what they are though.
It is hard to tell by your description what they are though.
Leothwyn
Well-Known Member
Another thing it could be is soil lice.
I know this one doesn't have the colored head, but the ones I had in the past didn't look exactly like this. I assume that there are a lot of different ones.
One thing to watch for is that soil lice get really active, crawling all over the top of the soil, right after a watering. Anyway, they're not bad to have. They only eat decaying matter.
I know this one doesn't have the colored head, but the ones I had in the past didn't look exactly like this. I assume that there are a lot of different ones.
One thing to watch for is that soil lice get really active, crawling all over the top of the soil, right after a watering. Anyway, they're not bad to have. They only eat decaying matter.
i might be soil lice. I took pictures of the bugs on another thread and got a response from a guy who had the exact same bugs in his soil. He said they were predatory bugs that I shouldn't have to worry about whatsoever. So the bugs possibly came with the soil to begin with. Ill leave them in there since no harm has been done