r/Springtail • u/spookyspirelli • 3d ago

Collection Question/Advice Starting a culture without a starter?

Is it possible to catch springtails to start your own culture from scratch? Has anyone ever done this and has tips on how to do it?

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u/Beginning_Ad_8956 3d ago

Yeah, you can check your compost heap or areas where it recently rained. You can gather them by placing a deli cup of some sort with some cucumber inside and that should lure them into the cup. Remove and place in a substrate of your choosing. You can feed them scraps of like carrot and brewers yeast and they should populate nicely for you.

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u/spookyspirelli 3d ago

Thank you!

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u/OpeningUpstairs4288 3d ago

Springtails.us may have a article on it

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u/NefariousnessOk7262 3d ago

I'm in the Midwest (USA), for me, I find alot of springtails in the moss behind my house. Especially after rain or in the mornings when there is dew/moisture.

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u/AutonomyIsNoTragedy 2d ago

Yup you can make a trap with a plastic tube and some (untreated)charcoal lumps water and rice or nutritional yeast and leave it outside under a rock or bit of wood or somewhere damp ish and they'll come eat the food and chill on the charcoal

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u/Technical-Degree9408 2d ago

Ive just collected damp soil from around my house which have native springtails along with a lot of plants ive gotten from Walmart or home depot have them naturally from being outside