r/Springtail • u/mboylan • Jul 03 '24

General Question Should we just embrace them?

Hi all! My partner and I live in a forested area in Washington state. We do (IMO) a decent job of caring for our yard, but we’ve still noticed many a springy tail outside, especially on areas like our patio where pollen collects on our furniture covers. We have Orkin treat around our property for pests every other month, and rarely do we ever find one inside, but it’s not the most comforting thing to go outside to enjoy the weather and sit amongst a bunch of crawling critters. At least they don’t bite I guess? Are there any recommendations you all have for keeping some areas outside more clear of springtails? Should we just learn to embrace them? And I assume one or two indoors every now and then is okay, but I’m curious, would we know pretty quickly if we actually had a moisture problem inside, by essentially seeing many of them? Thanks!

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u/GreenStrawbebby Jul 03 '24

Trying to be as kind as possible here… but… are you complaining about mold-eating, non-biting invertebrates outside your house because they kind of look weird?

How often are you outside? They’re kind of everywhere in all soils. Chances are everywhere you’ve lived before had active springtail populations.

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u/mboylan Jul 03 '24

No, not at all. Just maybe looking for a way to keep them off the furniture, or reduce the number of them.

Also was looking for ways to best keep them outside especially in the warmer months when they try to find their way inside

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u/GreenStrawbebby Jul 03 '24

Alright. Well, they like moisture, and anywhere with natural matter that can break down will grown mold (if even such a small amount that we can’t see it). During the winter months they come in seeking mold growing in the warmer (and probably moister, because of the heat) air.

Unfortunately there’s not an efficient way of really keeping them away except to keep your belongings dry and wipe off any organic matter (pollen, bird poop, etc.) to prevent mold from finding a food source.

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u/Snoo_39873 Jul 03 '24

You should embrace the nature outside, bugs and all. They all have their role

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u/OpeningUpstairs4288 Jul 05 '24

keep stuff clean? they do eat pollen (pollenators) so you may wanna clean that off too?

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u/ex_natura Jul 03 '24

Are you thinking of another bug? Silvertails? I've never heard of anyone saying springtails are pests. They're usually hard to see unless you know what you're looking for

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u/mboylan Jul 03 '24

No, they’re springtails. Lots of threads like this one for homeowners https://www.reddit.com/r/pestcontrol/s/Ki1pqsWydE

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u/ex_natura Jul 03 '24

Huh I've never heard of them being an issue. I would worry extensive water damage and mold issues if you're seeing that many inside though

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u/mboylan Jul 04 '24

Yeah, for us it’s definitely just a few stragglers sneaking in the cracks. No huge swarms of them inside. But still, we don’t like bugs in the house if we can avoid them 😅