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lynn327

Bugs in at least 5 (so far) of my houseplant's soil..

lynn327
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

Hi all -- I recently found bugs in the saucer of one of my plants, so I decided to do the potato slice test (stick a potato slice into the soil overnight) to see if it was a widespread problem.

Turns out, most of my plants have bugs. Can anybody help me IDing them? I think the small silver/white ones are springtails, but the others... I'm not sure if they're spider mites or root aphids perhaps? I have 25+ plants, so this is kinda a big deal / huge bummer..

I tried my best to photograph them, but they are SO tiny you can mostly only see them through a lens. It seems like there are 3 different bugs..

what I can assume is a springtail:


Not sure what this one is? It's even tinier than the 3rd one. Smaller than a pinhead.


this one is about the size of a pinhead, and appears to have 6 legs and possibly antennae. But it's hard to tell. he moves fast.


Any help in IDing and treatment options would be great. I may end up just culling my plant collection down to my favorite ones and only treating only those, depending on what's going on. The plants themselves seem fine, minus a few of them seem to be slightly ailing (yellowing leaves, but nothing major). They all seem to be living in the soil itself and not on the leaves as far as I can tell.

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