Small White Bugs in Houseplants?

holly.lane

Hi all,

We are growing some little pomegranates from seed and have had some small white bugs join us. We had a gnat problem, so we have been using beneficial nematodes, but it seems to have no effect on whatever these small white bugs are. They seem to stay on top of the soil. I haven't seen them on leaves or anything. They just run around on top of the soil and the sides of the pot. We tried to get them on camera, but they move faster than my camera can focus well, so these are the best pictures I could get.

Inglezinho

I tried to pick out the best of your message, unfortubately your photo is not very clear and focussed on "quick-moving". This rules out the No.1 suspect which is whitefly. My second choice would be spider mites. These come in a variety of colours, including white. I fiond the best treatment is just to spray the plant with a strong jet of water. This will kill a lot of them direct and a lot of them indirectly as thrive on dry, cenrally-heated air. You will probably need to repeat the dose> pomegranates can be put out of doors as soon as the risk of frost is past.

Inglezinho

I tried to pick out the best of your message - unfortunately the photo is not very clear - and focussed on "quick-moving". This rules out the No.1 suspect, which is whitefly. My second choice would be spider mites. These come in a variety of colours, including white. I find the best treatment is just to spray the plant with a strong jet of water. This will kill a lot of them directly, but also many indirectly, as they thrive on dry, centrally-heated air. You will probably have to maintain this treatment. Pomegranates can be be put out of doors as soon as the risk of frost is past. This will reduce the risk of pests.