small white bugs, fast crawlers in soil, please help ID...!

AvengingAB

Hi guys, I really need some help here identifying these bugs in the soil of one of my serissas. I'm about to put an automatic irrigation system with some of my bonsai trees all in one tub, and I don't want the infestation to spread into the other trees that are doing fine.

The infestation is so bad that when I repot (which I have done twice), I am tempted to just simply throw the plant away. But the serissa's fairly old and it's a nice tree, so I haven't.

Any help identifying, so that I can treat and kill them all would be appreciated!

Insect Description: Multi-legged, allowing it to move pretty fast for its size

Size: less than 1 mm long

Color: Appear to be white when you lift the soil. On paper, they have a very light amber color. Not very transparent or translucent.

Mobility: They tend to show up when the soil is disturbed, otherwise, they stay inside the soil. There are NO flying insects (not fungus gnats or white flies), NOR do these jump (not springtails...or not the seeing variety). They like to stay in the soil near the roots.

Symptoms: Not very obvious, but stunted growth in leaves is obvious (compared to my other serissa which is growing healthy leaves). The leaves are very green and healthy colored, but some are curled or abnormally shaped (some even slightly wavy or oddly thin). Foilage is also more likely to stay small and grow in tight messy clumps instead of expanding into full, stretched out leaves. Fine roots do not appear to be affect nor galled. The root system is not as spread out as it should be though for a bonsai its size.

Attempted treatments: Used neem oil for a week or two with no effect, did not seem to respond to this treatment. Tried pryethins. When I repotted the last time, I even soaked the roots in pryethins and neem oil. Well, a month later and they are back.

Soil and Watering: The plant isn't overwatered, and is usually watered once the top inch is fairly dry. Soil is a chiefly inorganic coarse mix of shale, volcanic rock, and some bark. The plant is kept indoors under decent air circulation.

I think that's a fairly complete description, but if you have any questions, please ask!

Any ideas? I'm desperate and once the irrigation system is up. I'm going to have to make a decision about what to do with the plant if the infestation isn't eradicated.


Thanks,

Matt

Advertisement

R_H

i think i may have the same bugs as you but my problem is very minor so i haven't looked into treatment.I think this post should have been in the "pests and diseases" thread but I too would like to know how to get rid of them now because it seems they multiply quickly. I think that they might be some kind of soil lice or mites but that is just a guess. I would try to get a picture but my problem is very mild so i probably won't find any so if you can then it would help alot

Globalist1789

Could they be some sort of baby centipedes?

R_H

i don't believe so for me

AvengingAB

Aye, me neither. They're fast crawling psychos that look like sesame seeds, but smaller and a diffrent color, and with smal legs of sorts. When I dry out the soil more, they do seem to become less apparent, but I'm pretty sure as before if I lift the plant out of the pot (don't want to do right now since I'm not repotting at the time) they'll just have found a deeper and more damp hiding place in the pot close to the root ends. On the surface they look beige, but the ones lower look whiter like specks in the soil. Maybe they are babies? Ughhhh...I don't know.... =/ At least they just stay in the soil.

Globalist1789

"look like sesame seeds"

Sounds like some of THESE guys to me.

AvengingAB

Well, if it's those, then they are...good? But too many of anything is not good, right. I've never seen so many of these bugs, whatever they are, before....it's like an infestation of them! I'm not even sure how those bugs stay alive...my soil is almost completely inorganic and I try to keep dead leaves out of the pot.

Maybe if it's these bugs, I should go by some salamanders to hang out next to my bonsais

They say that Oribatid soil mites are SLOW moving though. I suppose that is relative, but these buggers move pretty fast. Maybe an inch a second if I'm trying to kill them haha.

Otherwise, they fit the description.

mp29k

I had my house treated for termites, and what you initially described sounds a bit like termites... do they scatter when you apply light to them? Termites really don't like light. Do you have a lot of deadwood in your tree? I imagine termites would love to munch on some dry jinned wood in a bonsai.

Good luck identifying your critter.

AvengingAB

Holy crap, I hope they aren't termites! These critters have no wings though, and they're very tiny. I think they stay in the soil because they like the moisture, not so much dislike the light. I'll look into that. THanks.