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Bug Identification on calathea.

8 years ago

I keep one of my calathea in a jar because that's the only way I have found to keep it alive. These bugs have been thriving in the moist conditions. I have sprayed once with neem oil. Maybe I should take plant of soil and start over with new soil. Or maybe I should keep it in water until bugs are gone for good? Any idea what these bugs are?

Featured Answer

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

8 years ago

As long as the inner container has drainage holes and you never allow it to sit in water, the jar should not be a problem. It's just acting as a cache pot.

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Comments (11)

Mentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years ago
They are either springtails or some sort of mite. I can't see the detail very well. I would get the plant out of that soppy soil. While Calatheas do like humidity, they do not however like wet feet. You are going to rot the roots if you leave the soil that moist.
Dave
8 years ago
The bugs are likely due to the wet soil. The wet soil will eventually kill the plant too.
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Danielle N
Original Author
8 years ago
Ok thank you! I changed the soil and I will let it dry out some before I put it back in the jar. It has done well for me in the jar in the past- putting on new leaves.
Danielle N
Original Author
8 years ago
My soil must be contaminated with those because they came right back after I put the plant in new soil. Going to let it dry out a bit and sprinkled some diatomaceous earth on top of soil. Now I'm going to leave this plant alone.
Mentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years ago
They will continue to come back as long as you treat your plant the same as you did before. If you used the same soil as before, it is much too heavy to be using in a terrarium setting. Mix some perlite into the soil or look up 5-1-1 soil on the forum.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
Bugs are often difficult to identify from pictures - possibly root aphids (not good on several fronts) or predatory soil mites (prey on springtails, other mites, fungus gnats, .....). Jean and Dori are better at pest ID from photos than I. If you're lucky, they'll stop by and weigh in. They're prolly too large to be soil mites (hypoaspis miles).

Al
Danielle N
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago

Especially if the pictures are really bad! They are so tiny. They are smooth and a touch shinny and the aphids have a ridged looking body. I am leaning toward mite.
that tiny spec on the bottom right of my hand is one for size comparison.

I am leaning toward predatory mites.
Danielle N
Original Author
8 years ago
I have posted a video of the bugs on youtube so you can see them in action!

https://youtu.be/YVrTtVxyX0c

Do I need to try and kill them or are they beneficial?
Mentha (East TN, Zone 6B-7A)
8 years ago
Soil mites are usually not a problem, some are beneficial, some eat decaying matter in the soil.
jenny5657
7 years ago
Does anyone know what this is? My plant is infested. There's larva in the pot :( I'm so grossed out, I need to get rid of them asap. I also have fungus gnats, I tried using cinnamon to get rid of the gnats but they keep coming back every time I water. I just watered it with a 5:1 mix of water:peroxide and thats when I noticed the gross bugs in the picture. Ugh please help!

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