Hey guys, Iāve posted before but with very bad photos; I managed to get some better ones These tiny white bugs are everywhereā¦ in the soil, all over my plant pots - NOT on the plants themselves however, they stick to the soil. Are these soil mites? This was my initial thought but then I also think they could maybe be springtails due to the long antennae, but they donāt jump so Iām heading more towards the mites? Any help identifying them please so I know how to deal with them?
Iād want to say mealybug with the white and the long antennae but when you said that itās not on your plants Iām stumped lol, usually mealybugs are prolific plant pests
2 Likes I thought this too but my plants are happy and healthy and I barely see them crawling on the plants - Iāve seen one on a leaf before but only the one - but thereās an abundance of them in the soil, literally everywhere on top of the soil, Iām so lost to what they are
0 Likes My thought was soil mites as Iāve read that they tend to stay in the soil and only climb the plant if thereās dying leaves etc but theyāre pretty quick and just scurry along the top of the soil, thereās no harm to the plants at all
0 Likes Hmmm it could be soil mites then, especially with the plants being fine lol, got an unidentified bugaroo there
1 Like I do hope it is just soil mites or something along those lines that are pretty harmlessā¦ donāt wanna wake up to dying plants one dayš«£
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I think they look too big to be mites. My thought was mealy bugs as well š¤·š»āāļø but if they arenāt bothering the foliage ā¦.? Do you have any other plants at home? Have they been checked as well?
1 Like Theyāre really not big at all, I struggle to see them unless Iām looking really really closely, it was a miracle I was able to take the photosš
I have loads of plants on the same windowsill - my petunia and sweet William are infested with them, thereās a few in both my spider plants but literally only a tiny amount compared to the others - and absolutely none in all my strawberry seedling pots, but theyāre all in the same place
0 Likes Itās like theyāve only targetted a few plants and ignored my strawberries - attached a closer photo of the soil too
Mealybugs may also live on soil and eventually spread to the leaves, so I suspect that that is what they are
1 Like I thought mealybugs had loads of legs tho? I believe this bug only has 6 or 8 and then long antenna and they move really fast - I managed to get a close up video of them but I donāt think thereās a way to post videos? All the pictures/videos Iāve seen of mealybugās they are really fluffy looking and move quite slow, this bug is more spider looking than anything
0 LikesI have the same issue š but in my basil. They are not in the leaves only in the soil. Not sure if they are harmful or not
Iām still thinking theyāre mites tbh even tho everyoneās saying mealy bugsā¦ they look nothing like mealys in person and if I google the photos I took it comes up with mites sooooš«£
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