Little Johnny

For the past 3 grows I have had uninvited guests in my reservoir.

very tiny white bugs, slender, that rest on the surface of the water.

I have not seena ny infestation of any sort on the plant itself during this time, nor have they migrated to any other part of teh room or even to another res.

I decided to leave them last harvest , and this one has been one of teh more remarkable grows, with unprecedented growth and lush bushiness.

I was wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences with friendly critter's? or if im ultimately headed for some apocalyptic showdown with these tiny guys.

You'd think though if they were going to do some damdage they would have done it last spring when they first appeared...They do seem rather happy though, perhaps they are chewing at some of the organic growth that occurs on the roots and from the organic hydro nutes i use.

Anyway, any thought on such plant/insect relationships inside your grow-cabs?

FishOn

could be thrips...i'm not sure if they're aquatic tho..i had some thrips once - they looked like suuuupermini grains of rice...they were on foliage and although there was some faint mottling of leaves the plants were also lush and healthy

although mine were foliar rather than aquatic...i know there ARE alot of different types of thrips tho

buzzmobile

Springtails. more springtails, still more springtails.

FishOn

those are different from thrips eh? buzz you know if there are any waterborne thrips?

buzzmobile

Yes, springtails are different from thrips. As a matter of fact, there are aquatic thrips.

Little Johnny

fascinating. I am guessing they are some form of fresh water springtail, even smaller than a lot of the descriptions. But these guys hate the light.
Could be some form of thrip too.

Since they 'infested' my res my root mass has been really nice and clean looking. Previously, cause I use organic nutes, you'd get the heavy browning effect over the course of the plants lifetime, but not anymore.

sleepyrz

sweet try to grow em and sell em