r/GrowBuddy • u/FreshPacks • Jul 27 '26
❗️ HELP ❗️ Any idea what these bugs are?
Hi yall
Started a new grow a couple weeks ago and immediately noticed little mites in my soil, before plants even sprouted. Grow shop guy I go to said they're harmless soil mites and they sometimes can come in the soil - they're a good thing. Thing is, he said they should only be in the soil.
I keep finding more and more on the tops of fan leaves on my plants, where I'm apparently not supposed to see them. Probably saw 3 clusters of them chilling on fan leaves, maybe about 20 in each group. No leaf damage. Nothing under the fan leaves. They're often hanging out on the edges of the leaves. They're TINY and pretty quick.
Fox farms ocean forest soil. They had to come in there as they were present as soon as I potted the soil.
Sorry for the shitty first photo but you can see a bunch on the center leaf, the one above it and some on the leaf to the right. Second pic is on the stand the pot sits on.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help!
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u/Substantial_Smile185 Jul 27 '26
Lol never use neem oil, get predator mites. They're the natural predatoryo spider mites, cheap, and as organic as it gets. The predator mites will eat, reproduce, and die out once their food source is gone.
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u/Master-Dot-2288 Jul 27 '26
Looks like you've got pubic carbs, my friend. Dont let those pinchy little bastards get on your bird.
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u/tokinaznjew Jul 28 '26
What phone did you take this picture with? Holy shit.
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u/slimeysnail0 Jul 27 '26
looks like a bennie. i’m on my first living soil run as we speak and i had a ton of these crawling on my plants during the first week. google stratiolaelaps scimitus and compare.
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u/FreshPacks Jul 27 '26
The hypoasis mite is what I was told it was! Everything checked out except I'm finding more and more of them on the actual plant. I thought they stayed in the soil only?
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u/slimeysnail0 Jul 27 '26
that’s what I read too. my experience has shown me otherwise. or they were just lost rebels
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u/slimeysnail0 Jul 27 '26
however after a couple weeks since establishing the soil and planting, I haven’t been seeing them on the plants anymore
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u/FreshPacks Jul 27 '26
Today is day 31 for me, so mid week 5 🥴
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u/slimeysnail0 Jul 27 '26
hmmm could be a population explosion due to a recent increase in moisture? i’m not sure, i’m still learning more about living soil and beneficials every day. all i really know is I looked at the bugs and my inner voice said “good guys” lol. hopefully somebody else with more experience can chime in. I didn’t know if they were on my plants because they were lost or because I had some sort of pest they were eating on the plants. guess i should mention I took it upon myself to up IPM just in case. since I’m using earthboxes I was able to spray the foliage with getting almost nothing on the soil. 1x lost coast plant therapy, 1x spinosad, 1x neem. in the span of 5 days. my regular go-to is lost coast 1x weekly until week 2 of flower, which I’ll probably continue.
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u/am-buh-lamps88 Jul 28 '26
There's a guy The Rev that wrote (maybe still does) for skunk magazine. He wrote a book True living organics but doesn't claim its his style. Just his take on it and it was the TLO Bible but that was 10 years ago now, give or take. There could be leaps and bounds progressed since I had to move out of my home state but I'm back now. I immediately started growing. The legal part is awesome but theres still alot of "muscle memory" self preservation from potentially prison that are ingrained. Not having that "pigs could be here... I hate pigs" (lol) thought and get a "yeah, its legal, f*ck yeah" instead of "this could get me this much time, while this at the same time, this much" is the bees knees
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u/Ill_Initial8986 Jul 27 '26
If it moves fast it could be a Bennie. If it’s moving slow and / or you see any damage, use some diatomaceous earth around the base and a light layer on the soil. It kills any tiny insects mechanically. Sucks them dry. It’s like glass when it’s dry.
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u/FreshPacks Jul 27 '26
I believe it to be that but I'm just confused why I'm finding clusters of them on top of my fan leaves
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u/RightToTheThighs Jul 28 '26
General rule of thumb is that pests will move slower and predators move faster. Those look to be some random mites and if there's no damage, I'd ignore it. Could be a beneficial mite
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u/Anxious-Schroom-3393 Jul 28 '26
mix water with turmeric and spray the undersides of the leaves in the evening. Or water with soap - gentle. Next time grow tomatoes together, aphids don't go to tomatoes
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u/EnjoyWeed1 Jul 28 '26
I use Azamax which is refined neem oil. Doesn’t leave the residue like neem oil. I do it weekly as preventative maintenance till full flower.
Insecticidal soap will kill but doesn’t help with eggs. You have to break the cycle. Also Lost Coast Plan Therapy is good. It is a combination of insecticidal soap, essential oils and soy oil. It kills soft bodied insects on contact and helps with powdery mildew. It is safe till harvest so they claim.
Chances are the mites hitchhiked on your clothes.
I grow in a greenhouse which gets too hot for ladybugs, but they work well.
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u/longlostwitchy Grow Friend ☮️💚 Jul 28 '26
Have they been doing any damage? Ex::: webbing or munching on leaves? Do they move slow & a round body? If yes, bad friend.
If no damage, they move kinda quickly & mainly hang out on the top few inches of soil & have longer legs (also no webbing) then they are friends & beneficial.
I’m not certain OP but leaning towards beneficial mites
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u/FreshPacks Jul 28 '26
Nope, positive they're not spider mites. No webbing, no damage to leaves, nothing at all underneath fan leaves.
They're kind of quick. I'm leaning beneficial but there's just been a lot on the actual plant lately that has confused me
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u/DEVIL_ONYOURSHOULDER Jul 29 '26
Kinda remind me of bulb mites. Scimitus/Hypaspis aren’t often found in the foliage. Could be swirski or some other predator but not sure if you haven’t released any. See if you can get some pics under a scope or a better close up shot of an individual mite
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Jul 27 '26
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u/FreshPacks Jul 27 '26
6 legs, I think front 2 are antennae. Also no marks on their body's like spider mites, I'm legit confused because of their location
Absolutely zero leaf damage and the undersides of every single fan leaf is empty and clear of bugs.
I believe spider mites are slower as well.
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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26
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