Tiny silver insects in the phal bark

[en3rmax]

Hi there,

I was looking at my phal tonight and i could see some very tiny little silver insects crawling on the bark, this is the original bark as the plant came to me easter from a florist.

What are the little insects? and what's the best way to get rid of them, my phal seems to be doing fine though.

I live in the UK if that is any help

thank you very much

[Lena]

I think I know what you are talking about. I attached a photo of the bugs I have seen and put my finger in to give you an idea of the scale of things. They are very very tiny and I know they are not fungus gnat larvae because they actually have legs and move fairly quickly. I don't know what they are though.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I think they're springtails.

The insects in the pics appear to be springtails.

It's not definitive because I can't see the details. But I feel it's a good guess.

en3rmax, if the bugs in your potting medium look like the ones in the pics, they're definitely not fungus gnat larvae.

I've seen plenty of fungus gnat larvae to give you a good description of them...

Fungus gnat larvae:

They are very small measuring about 3 mm or 4 mm long. Fungus gnat larvae look nothing like the adults. Think tiny transparent caterpillars that have no visible hairs and black pinhead shaped heads. You can pretty much see their internal organs.

[Cookiemonster]

If they are silvery-white and jump like mad and such they are probably springtails... I had them for awhile and thought it was broken down media or problems in the pot, sometimes they just hang out, they necessarily arent a problem, but inside your pot you might have a problem with the potting medium or something rottin

[Doc G]

An insecticidal soap should kill them. As others have said, they are more of a symptom than a problem. They might have come from a soil-potted plant at the florist.