Re: soil bugs & anole lunch

From: Lester Kallus lkallus at earthlink.net> on 1999.10.29 at 22:36:27(3805) Wow, should I be saddened that I don't have roaches or ants in my house? No, I'm sorry that all I have is a few mealy bugs, one miniature case of what was called "white scale" and those mystery hopping/flying tiny bugs (whether springtails or algae gnats). I'll assume that the one sequestered brugmansia with spider mite would also starve an anole. I'm almost tempted to introduce ants but think I'll just let this one slide, get one of those rubber anoles and make believe. I had wanted to introduce the anoles because it would interesting to see, not because I was concerned about those tiny bugs. Those bugs don't appear to be causing any damage so for now, at least, I'll just let them go on. Thanks for the information, anyway. Les +More 8 AM 10/29/1999 -0500, you wrote: > >Are these the same as fruit flies? These look like they are coming out of > >the soil of my plants. Fly all over the place, like to head towards the > >windows, computer screen, etc. > > >>I think these may be algae gnats, fly real slow, breed in the algae/soil, > >>acn be a pest. Don`t think they will be enough for any self-respecting > >>Anole, not enough in them. > >Susan, Les, Julius, et al. > > It sounds from Les' description like what he's got are the fairly >common springtails. One possible way to check this is to lift the pot up >and see if there are some flitting around underneath. Fungus knats (algae >knats?) are much more inclined to do at least some limited flying, and >Susan, are more likely to be what you have, unless you've been working on >breeding fruit flies and/or have lots of stuff around for them to eat and >mature ones to lay eggs in. Fruit flies generally are not soil dwellers at >any stage of their life cycle. > > Beneficial nematodes applied to the soil in a water drench really >help cut down on the fungus knats, and many other pesky little bugs which >have part of their normal life cycle in the soil. I'm not familiar with >the common name "algae knats," but suspect that it may be another common >name for fungus knats. > > Les, whether what you've got are springtails or fungus knats, >that's not enough to keep anoles happy for long. However, if you're ever >plagued by any ants, or if you see occasional roaches, the anoles will have >a field day. I think that anoles are a great idea, and Don, if you're >reading this and would be willing to supply a few, I'd be real interested >up here in Nashville. No, they don't need to be able to play guitar or >write songs, good or otherwise. I tend away from pesticides except soap, >oil, and alcohol, so I generally have some representatives of most pest >groups, as well as some beneficials doing their work as well. > >Hope all this help. > >Jonathan > >Jonathan Ertelt >Greenhouse Manager >Vanderbilt University Biology Department >Box 1812, Sta. B >Nashville, TN 37235 > >

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