Springtails

[Clawhammer]

An army of springtails live harmoniously in my orchid room, so this article was an absolute joy to read. Had to share

All about Collembola or springtails - A Chaos of Delight

Photos of Collembola | soil springtails - A Chaos of Delight

[Dalachin]

Wow, thanks for sharing. I am coming to terms with my own population of springtails. They seem to be my in-house cleanup crew, and this is excellent reading (and awesome micro-photography).

[nemesis]

GREAT articles. I love the pictures and value the education I got. Thanks for sharing.
Kelly

[Clawhammer]

Who knew these guys were as stylish and varied as they orchids we keep? Some of them are kind of cute too, especially the chubby ones. Another reason to keep your phals in sphagnum

[DirtyCoconuts]

very cool!

[My Green Pets]

I think I have springtails too...somewhere...but I know I have another beneficial called chewing bark lice. Not a very attractive name, but listen to the description from the entomologist who identified them:

"These little guys look like chewing bark lice, order psocodea. It makes a lot of sense that they haven’t been found feeding on any live plant tissue because these insects are great decomposers and will happily feed on fungi, algae, mold, and dead plant tissues and won’t actually cause any damage to the plant host itself! I can’t find anything specifically about psocids being found on orchids, but it seems like the only downsides of having them around might be that they have the potential to leave webbing on plants (which might make plants slightly less aesthetically pleasing) or, if they’re indoors, they may seek out spoiling food and contaminate other food items. Overall, these are incredibly beneficial little helpers and should help any plants they live on stay happy and healthy."

[isurus79]

Whoa, these are some cool closeup photos! What device are y'all using to get them?

[MateoinLosAngeles]

I love springtails. I'm not sure I need them, but I like to see an ecosystem growing in my pot, especially one with "little helpers."

I've received several plants with Springtails, but the repotting process usually eradicates them pretty quickly (they easily drown). However, I was able to build a healthy population on an Oncidium growing in S/H. A friend had a dying fern he bought at trader joe's. I spotted some springtails and took some soil with me. I placed the soil with a piece of charcoal sprinkled with yeast in a deli cup. After a few days, I saw some springtails on the charcoal, so I just put it in the S/H pot. About a month or two passed, and I didn't see any springtails, so I just assumed they wouldn't be able to thrive in S/H. Then one day, when watering, I saw all these little white speckles floating to the top, I noticed some of them were jumping, and I thought, "Success!" It's been over six months now, and the springtails are still there and jumping every time I water, and somewhat miraculously, even though I flood the pot, they're still alive and have pretty much taken over the pot. The Oncidium is doing great too.

I'm considering building new populations on some of my other orchids.

[estación seca]

I'm curious... he bought a dying fern, or he bought a healthy fern that later died? I ask because I know people who have bought dead plants because they couldn't tell live from dead. I have also known people who continue caring for dead, brown plants because they thought they were alive. Plant blindness is common among humans.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I'm curious... he bought a dying fern, or he bought a healthy fern that later died? I ask because I know people who have bought dead plants because they couldn't tell live from dead. I have also known people who continue caring for dead, brown plants because they thought they were alive. Plant blindness is common among humans.

I can't tell for sure, but I believe that I saw that fern slowly fall into decay in a windowless bathroom for over a year.

It's kind of a funny story, we have game night maybe once a month or every two months depending on how busy we are. At some point, I asked about the fern. My first question was what plant it was, to which my friend replied, "a plant," my suspicion is that it was a bird nest fern. I begged him to put it somewhere near a window and asked if I could fiddle with it in Spring. So I eventually repotted it in a mix of 3 parts coco coir, 2 parts orchiata precision, and 1 part perlite. The original soil smelled so pugnant and rotted and I spotted our little friends doing their job. Placed a healthy sample in a ziplock bag that I took home and threw away the rest. Those springtails eventually colonized my Oncidium.

I believe the fern is still alive and has grown some new leaves after losing almost all of them. I do think my friend tends to kill his plants so it was likely ok at the shop, I generally see good selections and seemingly healthy plants at Trader Joe's.