Tori B
Help! Found these little white bugs in my soil mix. Do I need to scrap all of it and start over? Soil is in a “moisture and pest resistant” container but there is a ton of moisture inside…
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Help! Found these little white bugs in my soil mix. Do I need to… | Pests, diseases and problems | Communauté Planta
15 commentaires
- KJM
Unless I'm not looking at the wrong thing those are not bugs that's pieces of perlite.
0 J'aime- KJM
Ah wait! I see the bugs! Possibly thrips.
0 J'aime - Tori B
Ugh, they’re all over the scoop and I’ve found some in the soil :(
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- KJM
There is another bug whose name I can't remember that are actually beneficial. It's spring something or other. I'm inclined to think it might be that one because thrips are attracted to flowers and you clearly don't have flowers there right now.
0 J'aime- KJM
Springtail that's the name springtail. That is more likely what you have.
0 J'aime - Tori B
Interesting, thank you very much for your input! :)
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Bebe🌵🤍You can treat the soil for pests. Water it with 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 5 parts water for a few weeks and it’ll get rid of them. You can also use any pesticide to get rid of them. People treat soil all the time with pesticides before using it
2 J'aime
SunnyI bake my questionable soil out in an old metal or cast iron pot over my charcoal grill. I stir the soil to evenly disperse the heat. Then, let it cool. I have rinsed the soil in hot water when I’m in a hurry. Heat treatment kills the fungus, pests, eggs and weed seeds. 🪴🍀
5 J'aime- KJM
Years ago I worked at a place and we had a metal box about 5 ft square and 3 ft tall, with no bottom in it. We would fill it with soil mix, a little water, cover it and turn on the heat. 4 hours later we had a big pile of sterilized soil. I'm very glad we don't do that anymore!
3 J'aime 
BuffyJust interested as to why you are glad you don’t do that anymore.. a lot of work to do this or is there another reason. I truly wonder.. Lol.. I have no social life.. ha ha🥳
0 J'aime- KJM
It was very work intensive because we had many plants to plant. Shovel it in, shovel it out and then do it again and again. Where I work today we grow 14,000 or more of a rotating primary crop and I just can't imagine hand shoveling that much dirt!
1 j'aime - Sunny
Turning dirt in the hot sun is no fun. 😁
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- KJM
Not to mention it didn't smell very good.
2 J'aime- Sunny
The smell is why I never baked my soil indoors in my oven. I used my little bbq pit. I don’t even like the scent of fresh pine bark mulch. 😂
1 j'aime - Bebe🌵🤍
Omg I can only imagine 😭
0 J'aime