Do you know what this very small black bug is?

[lotis146]

Aw geez, trying here as well as pests because I am unable to identify this creature that just showed up. I found it on a Tolumnia Buck Hollow I just received Saturday. It's shiny & sort of beetle like. Before spraying again in afternoon I saw a bunch of them crawling on the roots and up the sides of the pot. Then when I spray with water they disappear.

The Tolumnia lucayana I just got today had very, very small greyish bugs crawling on the upper lip of the outside of the clay pot. They were much smaller and rounder than the springtails I just had on a Phal. I assume mites.

So I went to Lowes & got Bayer Advanced Nutria. It says it kills mites, spider mites, aphids, scale, mealies, and more, also a Fungicide. I wanted to go harder but it was late in the day and I can't risk bringing them back inside after spraying and an odor still being apparent given my parrots. I'll toss them before I do that.

That said, I sprayed them good (very small plants) outside while 58 F and left for hour or so til 52 F. Brought them in. Checked a couple hours later & no OBVIOUS signs of the mites (they were so small, I only saw them because they were crawling quickly right after I watered it). BUT BUT BUT the little black bugs? Yeah they're there just not as many but then I see that now they're on the micro-mini Tolu. lucayana when they weren't before!! Almost like they took off from the spray!

In the last week I got Wils. Peach Cobbler, Zygo. Rhein Moonlight, Paph Hawaiian Illusion, a free Phal. Yellow Brite Lites, & the two Tolumnias. They're all from different sellers except Wils. & Phal. I've kept them all in the same room, not touching each other but all within 3-4 feet. I don't know if these guys fly, they aren't apparent on the Wils. or Phal. that I got Saturday before Tolu. Buck Hollow on Monday. Everyone else arrived today. The seller doesn't know what they are and suggests I use a dish detergent mix before I said I spray Natria. I feel discouraged they're still traveling.

Here's a picture I found online someone else posted but they look like what I'm dealing with

[ALToronto]

These look like springtails, and they're completely harmless to plants. They feed on decomposing compost and algae, and may actually be beneficial to orchids. No need to kill them.

[lotis146]

Continuing my search...(even though I should be doing other stuff...)

Anyone know about Stethoras picipes, aka Black Lady Beetle, aka Spider mite destroyer? I've seen pictures saying what I have are black mites then I've seen others suggesting they're Black Lady Beetles.

ALToronto, my understanding of Springtails is that they are more oblong and white/silvery colored not this black that I'm seeing. I just had what were most likely springtails & these look nothing like them.

[lotis146]

Springtails (image from umn.edu)



Had them on Phal & now I just found them on my two Paphs...sheesh...

I'm back to believing the black bugs to be mites.

[ALToronto]

There are different varieties of springtails. Mine looked very much like yours, and they didn't bother my phal seedlings in the slightest.

Mites make webs that look like random strands of cotton, no pattern like you see with spider webs.

Another test - do they run away when you try to touch them, or do they jump? If they jump, they're springtails.

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by ALToronto

There are different varieties of springtails. Mine looked very much like yours, and they didn't bother my phal seedlings in the slightest.

Mites make webs that look like random strands of cotton, no pattern like you see with spider webs.

Another test - do they run away when you try to touch them, or do they jump? If they jump, they're springtails.

They don't really do anything. It would be great if they were springtails! The other ones - not the black ones - I thought were mites, then guessed maybe young spring tails, sure didn't jump when I moved in to SQUASH him! The black bugs are much slower than the springtails and had and apparently still have.

[ALToronto]

Maybe they're something else altogether. Mites don't stick around when you try to touch them.

[RosieC]

I mentioned on another thread where you posted this picture that I had seen something similar.

I should add that when I had them I never saw sign of damage from them. They are certainly not like the springtails I've had in the past, more like tiny black beetles. Like springtails they seem to live in the medium and are seen on the water when watering.

[katrina]

Originally Posted by ALToronto

Mites make webs that look like random strands of cotton, no pattern like you see with spider webs.

Soil mites don't make webs. Those look like soil mites not springtails. Springtails are longer in the body and lighter in color and they jump around like crazy. Soil mites tend to move around but it's not a jumping motion. Some soil mites are very fast and others tend to be slower.

They are annoying but they won't do much harm to orchids however, they could be an indicator of medium break down. They are a normal and healthy part of a an eco-system (as are many other insects) as they eat decaying matter so nothing to get freaked out over but if it's been awhile since you repotted..then it's time to get the orchid into new medium.

There are a lot of different kinds of soil mites and I could be wrong but those look an awful lot like Euzetes globulus. I know this only because a few years back I had these in a couple of pots and I searched for weeks before I found out what they were.

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by katrina

Soil mites don't make webs. Those look like soil mites not springtails. Springtails are longer in the body and lighter in color and they jump around like crazy. Soil mites tend to move around but it's not a jumping motion. Some soil mites are very fast and others tend to be slower.

They are annoying but they won't do much harm to orchids however, they could be an indicator of medium break down. They are a normal and healthy part of a an eco-system (as are many other insects) as they eat decaying matter so nothing to get freaked out over but if it's been awhile since you repotted..then it's time to get the orchid into new medium.

There are a lot of different kinds of soil mites and I could be wrong but those look an awful lot like Euzetes globulus. I know this only because a few years back I had these in a couple of pots and I searched for weeks before I found out what they were.

As always, thank you to everyone for taking the time to consider this.

I did find some sites/posts around the internet of people talking about something resembling this in compost & such. However, this particular plant that I found them on is not potted in ANY media. I got it in the mail Saturday & it (Tolumnia Buck Hollow in spike) arrived in a small clay pot with nothing but its roots are simply clinging to the insides of the pot, there does appear to have been algae growth. That's what stumps me.