Hi everybody, I have a citrus (that gives small oranges). I've had it for Two years. I live in Canada, in Ottawa and I keep it inside during the winter and outside on a balcony in the summer. I noticed a few weeks ago that there were tiny bugs on the pot and in the soil. They are grey with big antennas and they jump. They are not on the leaves, only in the soil and walking around on the pot. Today when I came home I noticed that there were hundreds of them, I couldn't not believe it. The tree is looking great, but I fear that this bugs can become a problem in a little while. I have search on the internet to find what they were, I've looked at Hundreds of pictures but I can't reconize them. I can't take pictures because they are too small. Would anybody know what they are, are they harmful or not and how to get rid of them. Thanks in advance.
No, unfortunatly. They are kind of oval, grey, they have a two part body, the head and the rest of the body which is one piece kind of like bettle, but very small.
Gwenn, you might find it on the "Bug Guide". Here is the web site for the Bug Guide. http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740
I looked at hundreds of bugs on it, thank you, but I can't reconize mine. Here is attach a picture but theyare so small, you can't barely see them. They are the little grey spots on the pot. I tried to take many pictures but it's the best I can do with my camera. I don't know if it helps but I hope because I am worry even though the tree still looks good so far.
They look like fungus gnats. They usually require the soil to be a little wet. Your media is nice and chunky, but you may be watering more than necessary. They should go away if you keep the media a little drier.
Hi, I had fungus gnats before but they didn't look like that, they were bigger, longer and black with wings. This ones don't fly, they jump. But maybe it is an other kind of gnats, I don't know. To what concern watering, the plant is outside so it actually depends on the weather.
I thought of springtails. A search of the forums using that term brought up the thread Help identifying insects in my CHC soil? | UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Deja vu? Springtails
Hi, thanks for that reminder of that old thread but to what concern me, the bugs are totally differents. They were fungus gnats I beleive last time, but not this time, they are totally different. I tried the oil detergent solution that helped me with the gnats, but it didn't work with these bugs. The spingtails kind of look like my bugs, if they are, what should I do? Should I try to kill them? Or are they harmless? I looked on the link you gave ans they say to water less and get rid of dead leafs and pieces of wood, but the wood is part of my soil, and for the water since the plant is outside I don't know what I can do.
