What in the world is crawling on my Phals?

[amaliaforce]

Ok, I just did a watering of all my phals - a good soaking - and was stunned to see that once the media was really wet, small (a bit smaller than the . on the keyboard) silver things were crawling and jumping (!!) around on the bark surface.

Panic has ensued.

They are small but visible, silver or very very light gray, longer than they are wide, they have two antennae, and seem like they almost have wings, since a teensy bit of overhang seems to occur after the end of their body. They are high in numbers. Really, really high.

I check out the pest page that Dennis linked to, but couldn't really find anything that matched. It's hard, though, to tell the size of the pests from the pics.

I'm sure that these guys are common, and yet I can't figure out what they are, and what to do. Help!!

[mayres]

My guess is that these are critters that live on dead or decaying organic matter. Possibly psocids. When was the last time you repotted your plants? If it has been awhile I would suggest you think about doing it - wash everything off and put in new media - everything will be fine. The good news is that they are most likely not harmful to your plants - just a nuisance.

[amaliaforce]

I just repotted all of my phals only a few weeks ago, so I'm assuming that that can't be it.
I can't help but wonder if it's my Sharry Baby's fault. I bought it a month ago at the NH show, and it had some pillbugs and stuff, so I immediately repotted it. The plant now lives on the shelf above all the phals, and I imagine from the way these little things move and jump, they could easily get down to the other plants...

I'm kicking myself now for putting it in with the other plants so soon.

[kmarch]

It sounds like they might be immature silverfish...I dont' know what their "real" name is. As far as I know, they are not harmful to roots. I often find them under my Cymbidium pots outdoors.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Do you have any gnats (kind of like fruit flies) buzing around the place? Maybe they are gnat larva. If so, mosquito dunks in your watering can will take care of them. Dunks from homecenters.

[BillC]

Amalia, from your description your tiny friends are possibly ' Springtails '. The color is right, the size is right ( some species are just 0.25 mm long ), the numbers are right as they generally appear in large quantities, and certainly the jumping is right as they have a ' lever ' on the underpart of the abdomen which they snap down onto whatever they happen to be standing and propell themselves for large distances compared to the body size. Finally they enjoy damp environments. If only you could get a 20x pic it would make the ID much easier. Bill

[amaliaforce]

Thank you all for your help. I don't have any standing water in my room (except in the snake cages, but if those had bugs, I'd know about it), so I don't know about gnat larvae. I'm starting to think springtails are a big possibility.

I only have a 4x camera, but I took some basic shots anyway. None are completely in focus, but at least it gives you all a better idea of what I'm talking about. Two pics are of it on its side, and the other is a ventral shot.
If we still can't figure it out, I'll bring in a specimen to school and bogart a dissecting scope. (Once I convince my camera to take a shot through the eye piece.)

I suppose the good news is that springtails, from what I've read, do not really harm a plant much...

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I never looked that closely a gnat larva, but they live in orchid bark and they like and eat the fungus that grows on old mix, not a standing water bug. They are actually called fungus gnats. But if you have not seen tiny flys coming up from the pot when disturbed, you have something else.

[BillC]

Amalia, you can be pretty sure that the pics indicate springtails, and the damp environment was not meant to indicate standing water, just the micro environment of the potted plant. Bill

[MichaelDZH]

Hi. I find forum about work and travel. Where can I to see it?
Best Regards, Michael.

[fred]

MichaelDZH
Hello and welcome.
This forum is for orchids
Do you have orchids ?
If so we would love to hear all about them also we love pics here.

Hi everyone. I am so excited to find this site again..!!
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Where I can find more INFO about this. Thank you very much
Best Regards..!!

[fred]

Welcome back to the forum.
I am glad that you are interested in the forum.
Do you have orchids
We have lots of active members here.
We also have a members list.
May be you could let us know exactly what you are wanting to know