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| Okay... I figure out what's going on.
Mosquitos are attracted to the light (obviously) which is more likely hotter then the sun. So they deside to land on the light and fry (literally) and the twitching carcass ends up somewhere near the plants. Anywho, I was watering one of my plants and a hoard of black moving specks where EVERYWHERE. Jumping and doing "nothing". So I kept drowning the plant and dumping the water (which collected a hell load of the black specks) until the numbers where greatly reduced. Are these black specks bad?
I already know I provided the weakest of information. So help me out with all you can help me out with. Thanks a lot! -Hero81 |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by hunterkiller03 9 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 22, 07 at 1:56
| One thing, light bulbs are never hotter then the sun. Now to the matter, what do you mean by black specks? Moving on where, to where, and in what? Are these specks moving all over the plant, or are they swimming in the water? These specks, if they are not mosquito larvae then it have nothing to do with mosquitoes. Maybe if you could explain how these specks looks like, me or someone may have a better idea what they are. Now, when you said you drowned your plants, you don’t mean that you killed them right? I had a problem with mosquitoes breeding on my water trays where I keep my plants in my room. Mosquito’s larvae look like small like warms that float upside-down on the water surface are about 1/8 of and inch long. Mosquito larvae will swim and dive down from the surface when disturbed. This little buggers would sting me but they also end up as food for my binatas and capensis, some to my butterworts and VFTs. Usually I ignore mosquitoes bites, but when they get to many. I get rid of them by simply dumping the water. One thing, as my plants feed on the mosquitoes. Some of them are engorged with my blood. My plants feeding on human tissue! Morbid, eh? |
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- Posted by mutant_hybrid (My Page) on Mon, Oct 22, 07 at 8:11
| Hero 81, By your description they could be thrips or spider mites. Some species of thrips are tiny, black, jumping insects with or without wings that collect on plants and suck their juices out. Spider mites tend not to jump much, but are tiny black specks that walk slowly on the plant and suck on the plant's juices too. Washing them off with water helps. Black moving specks could also be any number of newly hatched creatures like spiderlings, which do tend to hatch out and cover an area with a moving carpet of tiny critters. Hunterkiller03, Well, they do like orchid blood meal too, maybe we should be careful sleeping near our plants... (Remember the old H. G. Wells short story The Flowering of the Strange Orchid?) Nice thoughts for Halloween.. Muahahahaa! |
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- Posted by clay_in_iowa 5IA (My Page) on Mon, Oct 22, 07 at 8:47
| My guess is that they are springtails. Springtails are harmless insects that feed on decaying organic material in the soil and live in very moist areas. If you have CPs and don't have them you are truly in the minority. I have them in droves at times. They form "rafts" whenever I water my CPs. Oddly there aren't very many in my D. capensis pot.. muhahaha.. you can however see a ton of them feeding my baby capensis. Just google them and see if they match. |
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| HunterKiller03, I know lightbulbs are never hotter then the sun and I know I'm not dumb enough to literally drown my plants. I just exaggerated a tad because it's the way I am. MutantHybrid, I cannot even feed them to my plants due to how small and impossible to grab, they are. |
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- Posted by mutant_hybrid (My Page) on Tue, Oct 23, 07 at 8:51
| If they are springtails they do eat plant material (mostly dead or dying material), but do not harm plants much on their own. Springtails are attracted to water, so wet soil would be a playground to them. Mites and thrips would be more destructive, but do not jump (thrips are more mobile than mites though). Springtails is what it sounds like to me too. |
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