James O'Neill Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 My Utricularia blanchetii put on a good show of masses of flowers over the winter, but recently it just died back to almost nothing. Just today I found the reason, in the soil there were lots of these little creatures running about! They look a lot like woodlice with 7 pairs of legs and an oval body, but are tiny, the largest is about 3mm. I suspect these have been eating the underground system of the bladderwort. This is not a plant I wish to lose, it puts on such a good show. How can I get rid of these creepy little crustaceans? The photos aren't fab, but they are so tiny. Mystery pest in Utricularia by JimbO'Neill, on Flickr Mystery pest in Utricularia by JimbO'Neill, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Evans Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 You'll have to repot the whole thing into fresh soil. But place the old root ball into a bucket of water and gently remove the Utric. The wood lice will stay in the old soil and in the bucket which you can remove to the outside, but they'll probably make a return someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James O'Neill Posted April 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 It won't be easy to remove the fragile utric from the soil. But I'll give it a go.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Evans Posted April 5, 2013 Report Share Posted April 5, 2013 Nope, but using the water helps a lot with removing clean strands for replanting/potting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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