FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Noticed these teensie black flecks on my ping props. What are these? They don't seem to be bugs, and they don't wash off with sprayed water. Maybe they are inside the leaves?

I don't have a clue what I'm looking at or what to do about it. Advice?

These are pinguicula Emarginata x Weser props which are between 1/4" and 1" in diameter, and I recently brought in a pinguicula pirouette as well

Cricket turds?

Definitely no crickets around

I think they are some kind of larvae. They have tiny antennae and I was able to see one moving a bit. I'll put some mosquito dunk in the water and see if that helps.

I haven't noticed any flies or gnats, but the pings and drosera have been catching tiny stuff

Probably just springtails. They like to burrow into peat

Andrew072 wrote:Probably just springtails. They like to burrow into peat

I thought maybe, but they seem to be inside the leaves, and they move very slowly, like slugs or worms. Most springtails I've seen are usually quite active

I took one of the older props out and tried dousing it with a 1% neem solution. Not sure if that will do anything but it's worth trying.

Here's my overall ping setup. I really don't want to lose the big one!

I started with 2 plants smaller than a dime about a year ago. They have flowered a lot and grown like crazy. I repotted them to a 4" pot a couple months back and they've been doing extremely well since then.

Whatever these work things are, there are a lot of them and I am kinda freakin out. There are more of them on the lower/older leaves, and more on the smallest plants.

cricketsong wrote: ↑Tue Jan 02, 2024 1:48 am
I haven't noticed any flies or gnats, but the pings and drosera have been catching tiny stuff

IMG_20240101_202610.jpg

IMG_20240101_202723.jpg

These two images really make me think of fungus gnats.

If they're gnats won't the pinguicula eat them? Do slugs eat pings? Do pings or other carnivores eat slugs? Not trying to hijack just curious and wondering if these are not just gnats but gnats and something else.

Seeing as how they appear to be inside leaves, they're not fungus gnats. They appear to be more like some sort of leaf miners.
Bad news, they're mostly protected from topical insecticides because they're inside the leaf. Good news, being inside the leaf makes them more susceptible to systemic insecticides with imadacloprid.
Bioadvanced 3 in 1 is a mild insecticide with imadacloprid, and has a slight systemic property. Apply it lightly, including the media for a few weeks and see what happens. If it starts to react poorly, stop and gently flush the media.

ChefDean wrote:Seeing as how they appear to be inside leaves, they're not fungus gnats. They appear to be more like some sort of leaf miners.
Bad news, they're mostly protected from topical insecticides because they're inside the leaf. Good news, being inside the leaf makes them more susceptible to systemic insecticides with imadacloprid.
Bioadvanced 3 in 1 is a mild insecticide with imadacloprid, and has a slight systemic property. Apply it lightly, including the media for a few weeks and see what happens. If it starts to react poorly, stop and gently flush the media.

I live in Canada, so I cannot get any kind of systemics. I have some friends who are crazy into plants and might be able to give me some spinosad, but I cannot buy anything else here. Just mosquito dunk, topicals like safers end all (pyrethrins, but bad on cps because it's a 'soap') and recently Amazon started selling cold pressed neem oil, but it's still banned, so I bet that won't last.

I tested the neem at 1% on one of the plants to see what happens. That was a few days ago. Plant isn't looking super pleased, but new growth might be okay.

Getting into plants when you can't buy anything to treat bugs really sucks.

Looks a lot like springtails to me. Other possibility is thrips but I don't think so.