small white bugs crawling around the soil
there are some small white bugs crawling around in the soil of potted lemon tree and now some of my clementine seedlings! they are fast moving and seem to hide from bright light. they look to be all white with approx 6 legs and like an oval shape but they are small so I'm not sure. I do not see any evidence of them feeding on the leaves and I have found no webbing. how ever some of the leaves on my lemon tree are staring to curl and turn brown and crispy on the edges and some leaves have fallen off. I have also found a long skinny bug with lots of legs and it was very quick also. Kind of brown but I also saw a smaller one that was lighter colored(possible a baby) I think it was a millipede! the other bugs I think are either soil mites or root aphids what should I do and how can I diagnose this properly? ANY info would be greatly appreciated!!:)
How long have you had these plants? If only a couple of months, and you bought them from a local garden store or nursery, I'd take them back. They can replant them in fresh soil for you, and they should do it for free.
You can unpot them and remove all the soil yourself, then replant them in new potting mix, but it takes a delicate hand to avoid damage to the roots. If you're relatively new to container gardening, I'd recommend you leave this task for an experienced person. OTOH, it would be a good way to get experience, but only if you're willing to possibly lose the plant. Personally, I would only do this as a last effort to save the plant.
You could first try something like drenching the soil in neem oil. You can find it in most gardening supply stores these days. Drenching is pouring the insecticide into the soil repeatedly, over and over again. You could even soak the root ball for up to a half hour in the incecticide.
If you can find a local source of nematodes that prey on root aphids, that would be another option.
You can unpot them and remove all the soil yourself, then replant them in new potting mix, but it takes a delicate hand to avoid damage to the roots. If you're relatively new to container gardening, I'd recommend you leave this task for an experienced person. OTOH, it would be a good way to get experience, but only if you're willing to possibly lose the plant. Personally, I would only do this as a last effort to save the plant.
You could first try something like drenching the soil in neem oil. You can find it in most gardening supply stores these days. Drenching is pouring the insecticide into the soil repeatedly, over and over again. You could even soak the root ball for up to a half hour in the incecticide.
If you can find a local source of nematodes that prey on root aphids, that would be another option.
thank you I hope I have diagnosed this problem correctly but I caught a few of these critters and put them in a jar I think I will take the plants back as I only got them a couple months ago. Although the plant was only $20 so could try to re-pot them myself but I have never done this before I'm new to container gardening, and my first go at it isnt going so well obviously![/quote]
It's a pretty delicate operation to remove all the soil from a plant's roots. The feeder roots are thin and very tender, and the main roots are usually crisp and easily snapped off. It does require a very gentle touch to complete the removal of the old soil and replanting in new soil. Any roots that are broken will cause death to the particular parts of the top growth to which they provide nutrients and water. That's why you would need to be prepared to lose the entire plant, if you were to try this on your own.