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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 21, 2015 12:00:26 GMT -5
Springtails are beneficial to many types of soil, they eat fungi and microbes, help preventing root rot and fungi infection. They are very good for cacti, succulents because the main cause of death for them is root rot. They are also great for CP like Drosera, especially the ground hugging type like D. Spatulata, Tokaiensis, as they will occasionally jump around and feed the plants! I've managed to raise few seedlings to medium size without feeding them anything other than letting a culture of springtails live in the peat. Anyone in OCPS likes springtails too? I'm cultivating 3 types of them (maybe two because the brown ones and the yellow ones look alike, perhaps it's the food that has changed their color) Here's one springtail from my cultures, my favorite kind because it looks cute and doesn't move around as fast as other types:
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Post by peatmoss on Aug 21, 2015 21:36:47 GMT -5
Love me some Collembola right here! They're super interesting little critters to keep, and I've just started inoculating all of my plant boxes with them since I've been having mould issues. I only propagate the white tropical ones (I got them from a friend, don't know what the species is). They're a bit ugly, but they breed super fast and don't require any attention. So far I've gotten by pretty well on feeding them a mix of mouldy white rice and dried mushroom stems (that I cut off mushrooms I was going to eat, ripped up, and let dry). They seem to thrive really well in small deli cups with wet coco coir and some leaves in the bottom. The ones you have are really cute! I really need to work on getting more species. They're such fascinating little critters. www.flickr.com/photos/gabriellevac/17358777052/in/dateposted-public/ - here are some Hypogastrura that I ran into on a walk a while back, super interesting critters. - Here's what's called a "Globular" springtail, super neat. Found em on some bags of mulch in my yard. Couldn't catch enough to start a culture, sadly. That said, I was taking some pictures in my cultures to test a new macro rig today, and I found a little purple globular springtail in there. I'll post the pictures once I get it processed.
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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 21, 2015 21:47:09 GMT -5
Nice! I like the dark blue ones, have you tried growing some of those? I think they could be aquatic!! I can trade you some of mine if you are interested, I really like the yellow kind because they look so adorable! The Globular looks very unique, too bad you couldn't start a culture of them! I believe I have the white tropical too, they are very tiny, move very fast and breed prolifically; but yea, they aren't the prettiest springtails out there.
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Post by peatmoss on Aug 21, 2015 22:16:25 GMT -5
I haven't tried culturing the blue ones. We call them "snowfleas" here because they can be active in subzero temperatures (on top of snow in big masses like that one) so I fear they wouldn't survive in captivity without a winter period. They're really neat though. A trade sounds like a good possibility, I'd love to get more diversity in my collection! The tropicals are icky, they jump all over the place too, but the speed they produce young is a huge advantage for stocking large numbers of tanks, so I keep them around! Turns out I've been accidentally culturing the globular ones all along, but obviously a different species. I just noticed them when I was going through some test shots from my macro rig. What a crazy looking thing, deep purple with an orange racing stripe! Unfortunately they're super small (Sub 1mm? I can't really tell, but about 3/4 the size of the baby white springtails). I flooded my culture to take the pictures, and I saw at least four or five of them once I was reviewing the pics, so it seems like they're fairly common. Sometimes diversity surprises me in the oddest of places...
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Post by Justintime on Aug 21, 2015 22:24:51 GMT -5
Mhmm wish I could get a better picture. But wondering what these are for a while now.
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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 21, 2015 22:54:12 GMT -5
Justin, they look like springtails! Gabriel, the purple one is stunning, I'd love to get my hands on that! I'll send you some of mine later when I have a bigger population!
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Post by peatmoss on Aug 21, 2015 23:13:40 GMT -5
Willy - I'm going to try and extract some (if I can actually see them without my camera...) and start a culture of their own, so I'll let you know if that works out and I can try and send you some!
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Post by Justintime on Aug 21, 2015 23:30:29 GMT -5
Then I have a lot of them!!!
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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 21, 2015 23:42:26 GMT -5
Willy - I'm going to try and extract some (if I can actually see them without my camera...) and start a culture of their own, so I'll let you know if that works out and I can try and send you some! Thank you so much!
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Post by Justintime on Aug 22, 2015 0:13:39 GMT -5
Mhmm this is interesting mind if I could get some as well?
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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 22, 2015 0:39:10 GMT -5
I'll send you some too
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Post by bonfield on Aug 22, 2015 8:41:36 GMT -5
The tan ones in the last picture look like amblyseius or some other type of predatory mite. They feed on smaller mites and other creatures which may seek to infest your plants, so I've always welcomed them.
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Post by WillyCKH on Aug 22, 2015 9:28:04 GMT -5
Justin, lucky you! I've been looking for predatory mites for so long!
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Post by paulkoop on Aug 22, 2015 11:47:39 GMT -5
Iv had a pot swimming with what i thought was mites in the soil Was in a pot of drosera seeds none came up ...does any stage of these" benificial" bugs eat seeds or seedlings?
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Post by bonfield on Aug 22, 2015 12:34:50 GMT -5
Most are supposed to be able to survive on fungi, pollen and plant sap in the absence of prey, but should not be able to successfully reproduce under those conditions. What you saw could also have been something else, did the creatures you thought were mites closely resemble predatory mites? Here's a link I found useful: www.nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/treefruit/pests/pm/pm.asp
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