My garden is remarkably pest-free so it may sound strange but I've never rnu into a mealy bug problem before, so I don't know what they look like.

Please click here to see 3 photos of the little critters I am worried about:

http://guruna.com/misc/bugs.htm

They only appear at night and disappear when put under lights. They seem only to live under the soil and cluster around things like bits of composted wood, etc. They seem to leave the actual plants pretty much alone. They never appear on the leaves or stems of the plants. They are always in the soil of my plastic black pots. They only started appearing about 1 month ago, and seem to have spread to many pots in my garden.

Are they harmless? Should I leave them? Are they doing something worthwhile, like breaking down the soil further? Or could they damage my plants?

None of my plants are showing any stress from them (yet...)

thanks for any advice you can give!
-Muezzin.

not mealy bugs dunno what they are but if they aren't attacking the plants i would suggest that they are only there breaking down your organic material so are most likely going to be beneficial. you'll know when you have mealy bugs they infest the plants and you see them day and night.

len

mail len

lens garden page

if they are a ub like thingy (pic doesn't clearly show) then they are the larva of something if they have legs like bugs then they are most likley some bug helping break down your organic material.

len

"The creatures in the image are almost certainly springtails, in the order Collembola. Because I cannot count segments clearly, there is a small chance that these may be other types of primitive insects, but I don't think so.

The soil and rotting-wood dwelling springtails are usually not considered harmful to plants, they are said to eat decaying vegetable matter and fungi. Springtails are abundant in many types of habitats, people don't usually notice them until they occur in the massive aggregations you sometimes see along the margins of lakes or on snowpack or in your potted plants.

You can go here for more information: http://www.missouri.edu/~bioscish/coll.html

The image of Kalaphorura on this page: http://www.collembola.org/taxa/onycinae.htm looks similar to the creatures in the image."

So it appears no need for concern, and now you are the expert on springtails.
Alison

all the best to you all - Len, Dee and Alison, thanks so much.
muezzin.