Pest trouble..

[Varuni]

I have a new problematic pest living amongst my indoor plant potted family. I noticed a plant had begun to turn grey, loose its leaves and wither. Upon closer observation the soil was LOADED with little bugs. That day, I discovered that multiple other plants also have these unwanted guests.

Here's what I know:

1.) They're not springtails or thrips.

2.) They're about the size of a small grain of salt; visible to the naked eye.

3.) They're exclusively in the soil.

4.) There is NO webbing present on any of the infected plants.

5.) They appear to be some kind of mite? Seen on a microscope, they have six legs, antennae and sucking mouthparts.

6.) They are fleshy/tan colored and are sesame seed shaped.

Any suggestions are greatly welcomed.

 

[Varuni]

Here be the creepy crawlies.

 

[zigs]

Look like root aphids

Try pyrethrum on them

 

[Corzhens]

Gee, I was shivering upon seeing those pests. It's very disheartening when something almost invisible has been wreaking havoc on your plants. Right now we are having a problem with slugs, the baby slugs that appear in our garden every day and we cannot find the mother slug that lays eggs. So I guess you will have the same problem since you have to hit the breeder to eradicate the pest. You probably need to apply pesticide on the soil.

 

[remnant]

I had a problem close to this only that I was farming a different crop, butternuts and the offending pests were crickets. A garden toad really took care of them as well as manual elimination. These seem to be a variety of aphids which may subsist on the stem or climb up the plant to feed on the leaves. The biggest worry with such pests is that they transmit viral infections. A good remedy to counter this would be to spread ashes in the area around the case of the plant.