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Post by dvg on Mar 8, 2013 15:49:53 GMT -5
Apoplast, you might not get much population density with the wild silver springtails.
I have them in culture, but they really don't perform as well, in terms of numbers, as the tropical springtails do.
dvg
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Post by Apoplast on Mar 12, 2013 10:04:09 GMT -5
Hi DVG - The densities are building up pretty well. Probably now as much as the tropical springtails do though. Still, I like that the ones I collected are so small. I'm hoping they'll feed the smallest seedlinngs. So for now, I'll continue on with them. Hopefully it'll work.
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Post by dvg on Mar 12, 2013 13:33:56 GMT -5
Hi Apoplast, If your system is working for you, continue on with what you're doing. Springtails are an excellent choice for seedlings and pings. Wingless fruit flies can sometimes be too powerful for the above plants to capture, but i've found that springtails are captured very easily - making for faster growth for those plants. dvg
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Post by shoggoths on Mar 13, 2013 11:48:56 GMT -5
That's great Apoplast. Keep the good works.
My main springtail pot crashed %??% I feed them too much food (letuce, tomatoes, etc.) and now there's a lot of tiny worms everywhere.
I tried to catch the remaining sprintails and put them over charcoal and coco bark but I didn't do it well (or they perfer a more orgnic mix) because they all died.
I'll just feed them rice, tea leaves and couscous in the future.
The morality of the story, more food won't necessary bring more individuals.
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Post by dvg on Mar 13, 2013 14:20:51 GMT -5
Hi Shoggs, i've found the same thing - that when the cultures were slightly overfed, they crashed.
I think it might have had something to do with too much CO2 buildup.
The yeast seemed to be the worst for that, but veggie flakes could also cause a crash if overused.
And i've also seen the nematodes in some of my cultures, that arrived in the soil that i purchased from my springtail supplier.
Those nematodes really seem to explode in population when the media is overly wet and there is plenty of excess food.
It is possible that the worms exude a metabolic toxin that wipes out the springtails, because the worms also died.
To combat the worms and the culture crashes, i keep multiple backup cultures of springtails and redid my media composition.
dvg
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Post by shoggoths on Mar 13, 2013 18:18:38 GMT -5
Hi DVG,
Tks for the insight, I didn't know how the 'worms' were call.
The media was effectively wet so I put dry paper in it but to no use, it was too late. I'll keep everything a little bit dryer. I was not sure what the springtails prefer.
I took the nematodes with a spoon and made a pulp of them, do you see something wrong feeding my plants with the pulp ?
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Post by 31drew31 on Mar 13, 2013 18:36:59 GMT -5
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Post by dvg on Mar 14, 2013 15:11:29 GMT -5
I took the nematodes with a spoon and made a pulp of them, do you see something wrong feeding my plants with the pulp ? No, shouldn't be a problem at all. Those worms need to be in constant moisture or they dry out to a crisp quite quickly. dvg
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Post by Apoplast on Mar 16, 2013 19:30:40 GMT -5
Merci Shogg. I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your colony. I'm already in two jars, and will be three when I start one on charcoal. Hopefully if I am careful to avoid cross contamination, that should buffer me against total loss.
Thanks for the links Drew! I've not checked them out yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to offer.
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Post by shoggoths on Mar 17, 2013 10:10:27 GMT -5
Ok, tks DVG.
Best way to do Apoplast. Better to have some spare colony.
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Post by Apoplast on Mar 10, 2014 10:05:50 GMT -5
Hi all - Okay, so my attempt at culturing wild collembola from my pots petered out, as I was warned it would. Bummer. So, I've decided to buy some tropical collembola in the near future. I'm going to use coir, charcoal, and orchid bark as the substrate, and feed fish flakes (because I have some around). I know many other people grow these critters here and that they have posted all sorts of useful advice.
I can't seem to find the information on how best to collect them and feed them to plants. I know they float and so you can flood the colony and gather them, but that seems rather destructive. Any tips or advice you be most welcome (or a link to the posts I can't seem to find where this was discussed here previously). Thanks!
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Post by dvg on Mar 10, 2014 17:07:03 GMT -5
Hi Apoplast - a simple drinking straw employed just over a tilted springtail culture can be used to blow the springtails directly into/onto plants or into a larger container. Once a fair number are collected in a container, the container can be tilted, then tapped with a finger in order to get the springtails all into one corner of the container. At this point, Shoggoths' pooter/aspirator on page one of this thread would come in very handy to first pick up the spingtails, and then to finally disperse them where desired. Just be sure that the filter is in place and secure before you inhale. dvg
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Post by Apoplast on Mar 11, 2014 19:38:57 GMT -5
Hi DVG - Thanks! Doesn't this suck up a lot of substrate too? I'm planning on culturing on coco coir, and don't really want to drop that on my dew's leaves. Regardless, if that can work, it sounds like the density I can expect is much higher than what I was getting with my "native" collembola. Do you have any experience with the tropical isopods like these? I am thinking about getting some of them when I make an order.
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Post by shoggoths on Mar 12, 2014 9:53:34 GMT -5
I never had any problem with the pump device and it works really well.
Sometime, I do catch a bit of media (I grow mine on tea leave) but the media get stuck in the bottle so it don't goes on my plants leave when I let the springtails jump/fall on my plants.
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Post by Apoplast on Mar 12, 2014 22:24:50 GMT -5
Salut Shogg - Merci! Sounds like I am getting overly concerned. I should just order the things and be done with it. Okay, I'm doing it tomorrow. Tea leaves eh? I have plenty of those around!
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