Fungus gnats?

[boisemomma]

Are these fungus gnats? They are very small and don’t seem to fly but crawl in the potting medium..my orchids don’t seem to be affected at least not that I can tell..I’ve read one can use granular mosquito dunks to get rid of them...anyone know?
I’d love to show a picture but can’t seem to be able to download a video..HELP!

[aliceinwl]

Maybe you could upload it to a free site like Flickr and link it? There are lots of possibilities. Do they have wings? What kind of media are you growing in? My Phals don’t stay consistently moist enough for fungus gnats but I could see something like springtails establishing. As long as they stick to the pot, I wouldn’t be worried about these types of invertebrates.

[boisemomma]

They don’t fly but have quick movements and they aren’t black but very light colored.and tiny.springtails?i use orchid bark plus sphagnum moss here and there and pots are moist after watering then dry out..thanks for your reply

[aliceinwl]

Do a search for images of Collembola (springtails), most are under 2mm. They're quick and they can jump. I have them in my outdoor orichid pots. This is just a guess on my part, I could easily be totally off base.

[Ray]

There are also innocuous little critters called "psocids" (wood lice) that can populate the potting medium.

Most such critters are living off decomposing organic matter in the medium.

By the way, when you DO get fungus gnats (yes, they fly), don't add granular mosquito dunks to the pot, but "steep" the dunks in water for a few days, then irrigate with that to put the bacteria in the medium.

[boisemomma]

I’m leaning towards wood lice after researching
Springtails and fungus gnats..thank you all for your very informative replies..I will attempt again to post a video but don’t hold your breath..