Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

No there just little white bugs maybe up to 1mm long,in my beds there living just on the water line i have been watching them by clearing a few stones away and they are more than happy passing over the water crawling over the stones,they do appear to like this damp region. To be honest I’m more confused than ever,this has been a learning curve i now realise i had thrips damage to my Tomatoes and Aubergines,but it doesn’t matter how hard i search i can’t find the Thrips that are doing it,so are these little white bugs the larvae stage ?
I have one Chinese mustard that just suddenly appeared and its getting hammered if i turn the leaves over the underside is covered with little white bugs,there on the stones under the plant as well,but they aren’t the same as the bugs living in the stones,I will go down now and take some pics and post them.
I must admit for ever how much i enjoy AP i am getting fed up of supplying a free buffet to every manner of bug.

These show them quite clearly they are spread throughout all the beds,some areas have a higher number,the pic of the mustard they are sat waiting for space on the underside of the leaf to get stuck in..

Thrips damage on the egg plant and tomato leaves and on the underside of the mustard leaf it wasn’t until i put it up on the computer there are actually two types of bugs in operation,Thrips and Aphids, poor little plant doesn’t stand a chance.

Definitely aphids. Not certain about the thrips yet though. The last two pics show stippling which could be thrips but could also be spider mites. Need a good pic of the underside of those stippled leaves. Difficult to tell on the small critters in the rocks - they look like springtails to me but usually these launch themselves when you scare them. If they are springtails they are considered harmless and eat dead plant tissue and detritus. It's possible they are thrips but they don't look right to me.

Here's a pic of Springtails I found online - http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/springtails/img/M1305-1.jpg

Here's a page with a thrip picture - http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/understanding_western_flower_thrips

Notice the difference in color and shape.

Yes they do resemble them don’t they,thing is these don’t launch they just crawl,time for another pic lets see if i can in close.

I need your second opinion but i think your right,there not thrips larvae there springtails,but I’m concerned they don’t spring,look at the pic and see what you think.
Underside of two of the egg plant leaves both heavily marked on the top surface,i don’t think its spider mites,my tomato seedlings had spider mite trails over there leaves same damage but a different pattern,but see what you think...

I couldn't see any spider mites. I still think those are springtails on the rocks.

Try shaking a leaf or two over a piece of white paper and see what you get. Will make it easier to see any spider mites and or thrips (and their frass).

Sorry not much help this go round

No Scotty the exact opposite,i do agree that they are springtails,i had never heard of these before but those two links plus that closer pic show your right,this is a big weight of my mind,now spider mites i have just found them under the leaves of the egg plant…….

Yes confirmed Scotty,I did the paper thing [god why didn’t i think of that] and there were the moving full stops,so i have done more research and everything fits into place,i had so convinced myself it was solely Thrips i had stopped looking for anything else. The white bugs in the beds again I’m sure your correct,no other plant is being effected and with that many in the beds you would expect it,I just made everything fit together to what i thought it was not what was actually correct….Many Thanks Scotty.

Can you find predatory mites in Thailand? From what I have been reading, they attack both thrips and the damage causing mites.

Good news that you got it sorted dasboot and glad I could help .

Hi dasboot, how did you eventually get rid if the spider mite?
Scotty pointed out that My Eggplant leaves had a similar appearance to your tomato.

I sprayed the underside of the leaves last night with the Thai version of Neem oil,it has other plant extracts in it as well,plus a dash of EM1A so we will check again and then maybe spray again in a weeks time. I will update..

No predatory mites available here and with the excessive use of pesticides here hardly anything left in nature..

Ok thanks. Keep us up to date.

I have this product and was wondering if it was safe to use in an AP system. From what the website says, it seems to be, but wondered if anyone had experience with it. It would be great if I could use it, as I have both spider mites and leaf miners.