Btw, they are not gnat babies since they dont have those black tips on their bodies. I've had them for a while and they don't seem to be transforming to any adult bug, they just stay in my soil multiplying lol.

I believe using vermicast is the problem: any bug would love that kind of 'food source'. It is generally not recommended to use it in containers. Organics attract bugs, and they are much better to be left for the gardens, not so much containers and especially if indoors.

What is 1/3rd soiless? Adding coir & vermicast probably defeats purpose of it...JMO.

you're correct Rina, they all came from the vermicast I've been using. I was experimenting on the best soil ratio & composition for my plants, and the plant grown in a pure soiless growing medium had no signs of this wrigglers, up to this day. I used vermicast on my container plants to give them the beneficial and good microbes w/c are not usually found on plain coco coir and soiless mixes. Plus, the seedling grown with the composition of 2/3 vermicast & 1/3 soiless was doing the best as compared to the pure soiless ones. The only benefit of the soiless one is no bugs lol

The soiless had perlite in it for aeration and time release fertilizers. I just added it to the mix to somehow "jump start" the plant to grow :D

I am in no way an expert, but IIRC there is no need for fertilizer until after potting up the seedling into bigger pot. Different for cuttings or bigger plants.

I am still not clear what you mean by soiless - you say it has perlite in it, but what else?

Using good fertilizer will be much more reliable, as you know exactly what you are giving them. There are many, many benefits of using soilless mix, not only not having bugs. I have many different plants - lots of succulents, and many tropical plants. None of them are in mix containing vermicompost (actually, I never used it). For plants like brugmansias, figs, hot peppers, olives, loquat, passion vine, bougainvillea and quite a few more, I use mix that has turface, some grit, bark, lots of perlite and smaller amount of soil in it. These are all plants in containers. I also grow many vegetable plants in containers, especially tomatoes and peppers and strawberries and they are also in same mix. I start almost all of them from seeds. These all get fertilized with MG 24-8-16 (can't buy FoliagePro where I am or I would be using it). For succulents, mix I use has only grit, perlite and some turface.

The "Gritty Mix" is an excellent example of a "Soiless Mix". Pine bark, Turface .125", Grit (Insoluble Granite).

Rob