- Wed May 26, 2021 10:13 pm
#382100
Firstly, Springtails can be beneficial by eating fungus/mold from the substrate. Their presence might be a sign that the medium is deteriorating, but they don’t eat living plant tissue and are otherwise harmless to the plant itself. Whirligig mites (they look like big red or brown spider mites) are incredibly beneficial to vft. I forget their scientific name, but Whirligigs are predator mites that eat aphids, spider mites, and other pests and cause no harm to vfts. They move incredibly fast and are often mistaken for spider mites (bad). Not all insects and mites are harmful to plants. For example Ladybugs and the aforementioned Whirligigs. I feel I need to repeat this because I’ve noticed growers are overusing pesticides/miticides; Not all bugs are harmful pests. Secondly, I’m asking if mobility speed can be a factor in visually determining if an insect or mite can be beneficial. I already know that mealybugs, scale, and spider mites are harmful. Having had these plants for several years, I am very familiar with spider mites. They are teeny red dots that can barely be seen by the naked eye and damage is often noticed before they themselves are. Why would I search for what to feed a vft? That has absolutely nothing to do with my questions.
Tl;dr: Upon quick visual inspection, can you determine if a tiny bug on a vft is harmless/beneficial based on size and speed of movement? Fast (Whirligig, Springtail, etc.) = harmless, Slow/Immobile (red spider mite, scale, etc.) = bad