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hero81

Venus Fly Traps. Mosquitos.

hero81
16 years ago

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?

Are they connected to the mosquitos? (not a literal question)

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

Comments (5)

  • hunterkiller03
    16 years ago

    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 donÂt 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. MosquitoÂs 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?

  • mutant_hybrid
    16 years ago

    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!

  • clay_in_iowa
    16 years ago

    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.

  • hero81
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    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,
    Thank you for your understanding. I don't know which of the two they can be. They are far too small to identify. I know they are small black speck with the ability to move and jump.
    For some reason I believe they pose a threat to one of my plant which is failing to develop right (at the moment). So I did wash or "drowned" the plant out from as much of them as possible.

    I cannot even feed them to my plants due to how small and impossible to grab, they are.

  • mutant_hybrid
    16 years ago

    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.