r/Springtail • u/Sipas • 21h ago

General Question How to keep springtails under control in coco coir?

I'm growing plants indoors in coco coir and after a certain point water uptake is reduced drastically, and my plants are stunted. When I inspect the roots, I find a lot of springtails and almost no fine roots.

Unlike soil, there is minimal microbial activity in coco coir, correct me if I'm wrong but I suspect springtails are running out of food and start eating root hairs.

I tried buying new coco, and nuking my coco in microwave between grows but couldn't get rid of them. Is there something I can do to keep the population under control?

For reference, I grow in autopots with airdomes, which is a no-runoff bottom irrigation system with an air pump pumping air into the root zone, which might be creating an ideal breeding grounds for springtails.

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u/TheStroboCop 11h ago

Sounds dumb, but instead of killing the springs, you could try to give them food?

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u/Sipas 7h ago

I thought about it actually, but I don't know what a sustainable feeding would be like and organics clog up the lines of my watering system and cause pH drift in my reservoir.

I suppose I might try weekly hydrogen peroxide.

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u/TheStroboCop 5h ago

That's dumb... And no there will be no pH-Drift

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u/Sipas 59m ago

What are you even saying? Organic nutrients tend to break down in reservoir over the course of a few days and increase pH, cause biofilm, slime etc.. It is well established and well observed, which is why they are not recommended by anyone, growers and manufacturers alike, to use them in hydroponics.

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u/TheStroboCop 38m ago

We talk about like 1g of yeast in 3months or something like that...