Does anyone use/add beneficial Insects/ Organisms?

[estación seca]

Wikipedia says that based on DNA some taxonomists believe they should not be grouped with insects.

[Cymbaline]

Originally Posted by malteseproverb

I've tried several times to introduce predatory mites to my indoor growing space to kill off spider mites, which are a constant problem for me in every season. I honestly haven't seen any positive effects, and the live mites are expensive. I am still tempted to try this again because it seems so easy--they do all the work, and I just sit back and let it happen! I have no idea why they don't seem to be doing anything. Either way, they don't seem to linger, so that doesn't seem to be an issue.

I've never heard of predatory mites so I may just need to give it a shot myself. Thanks!

[Leafmite]

I buy lady bugs when I put my plants out for the summer and, sometimes, lacewings. Lady bugs tend to lay eggs, then most of them fly away. I like finding the larva when I am watering and otherwise caring for my plants.

Lady bug larvae do seem to get rid of any mites (mites like my Passiflora and mini pom trees)

[malteseproverb]

Yes, the predatory mites I buy are suggested for outdoor use too; I have a feeling they would work better out there for whatever reason. I had considering getting them for my yard this year instead of for indoors, since I still put a lot of my orchids out there in the summer (my precious catasetums!!), but ladybugs would be cuter. I live in a concrete jungle, so I think the mites tend to easily get out of hand without enough ecological diversity to reign them in.

[Leafmite]

Good luck! The lady bugs do have that element of cuteness. They tend to lay eggs, then most fly away and it is the larvae that will most often be seen.

[Orchidtinkerer]

I completely forgot about predatory mites. My local hydroponics store sells little sachets of them for under 2 euros, I might go pick one up again.

In the past they were expensive and had to be bought in bulk but if you can find a place selling smaller quantities they are probably worth it.

[aliceinwl]

Originally Posted by Orchidtinkerer

So are they in the worm family then or what are they if they aren't insects?

Under the current taxonomic scheme both insects and springtails are in their own classes (Insecta and Collembola) in subphylum Hexapoda. Springtails and insects are related, but distinct. Formerly, springtails comprised an order within Insecta.

[hypostatic]

I've been using and culturing springtails for years -- they are certainly fascinating and beautiful organisms!

There are lots of vendors trying to sell springtails these days. There is this new "bioactive" craze that's going around, which is mostly a scam to take your money. Springtails 100% do NOT eat "bad" or pathogenic microorganisms. So don't add them to your orchids, hoping that they will "cure" any diseases.

That said, springtails will eat some microbial biofilms such as yeasts and algaes, depending on the species. All the STs you'll find available for purchase will be soil dwelling species, and they'll most likely be eating harmless bacteria and fungi.

I have both added STs, and had species "spontaneously" appear in my orchid substrates. When I've added them purposelessly, it has been in the hopes that they would slow the rate at which the media decomposes. I don't know if they have any real positive effect, however.

Originally Posted by estación seca

Wikipedia says that based on DNA some taxonomists believe they should not be grouped with insects.

I sort of skimmed through the comments, so I don't know the whole convo behind this. For the last few decades, as far as I'm aware, collembola have not been considered "true insects".

[My Green Pets]

I bought 2000 predatory mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis) last week and had them shipped overnight. The mites were $23 and the overnight shipping was another $20.

There were many mites in the vial and I tried to sprinkle a few on each of my plants. This was 3 days ago. Today I cannot find any of them. And I have found what looks to be a population of tiny white mites crawling over some of my plants (these were the reason I bought the predatory ones). So I don't know if anything has happened or not, but I have not seen what I hoped to see, which is little orange predatory mites eating the white ones.

I researched this particular species and apparently they need warm temperatures and over 70% humidity, which i have in my grow tent. However it says they are voracious spider mite predators and if mite populations are low, they will 'disperse'. So I'm wondering if they died before they found the problem mites, or if the problem mites are not what the predators can eat.

Either way I got a little trigger happy and ordered another vial of a different species today, Neoseiulus californicus. So I will dump those in when they arrive in the next week and see if the problem mites start disappearing.

[malteseproverb]

That's basically been my experience with live predatory mites. I never really see an effect, and the bad mites continue to thrive. Maybe I don't have a bad enough mite problem? I didn't know that they required those conditions to survive, that may be my issue. I'm not entirely ready to give up trying them though. I feel like there must be some user error involved, and I just need to keep trying. Where would they even disperse to?? It's cold outside, and there's food right there!

I've gotten absolutely clobbered by mites in the past month or so, seeing the worst effects on my non-orchids, but I'm just resorting to giving them intense showers in the tub once a week. Takes forever but what else can I do? Mites have consistently been my #1 enemy when it comes to pests. Mealies? Easy peasy. Scale? No problem. But spider mites never cease to return every few months no matter what I try. I can keep them somewhat in control with Azamax and water alone, but the slightest decrease in vigilance and they're right back to their old numbers.