By buying the wood chips you most probably purchased a product that is sold as is, without going through some sort of sterilizing. Thus you got the insects along with the chips. For just a few dollars more, you could have purchased ReptiBark chips A wonderful product, and an exceptionally clean product. Thanks for posting this, as you have alerted other members, and possibly could have saved them from the same situation.

@Silica Thats where I think they came from too.

I really need to remember that the simplest/cheapest option is usually the best.

So do I toss this thing?

Oh, and good thing I used the mix to amend a lot of other stuff I’ve had inside for a while. Including my beloved Christmas cactus I’ve had for almost 3 years now that is full of buds!!! Gotta check everything now.

Yea, they probably came in on the wood. Sprinkle some diatomaceous earth powder or some DE (1/8" to 1/4" size) as a top dressing and/or get a systemic insecticide from your local nursery. you can get the powdered DE at farm/feed stores and the granular DE (NAPA 8822 from the NAPA auto parts, or OptiSorb from Fastenall (a store that sells commercial items) They are sold as products to soak up oil spilled on concrete.

keep the tree and work with it.

Steve

Flush the soil with a dilute 4:1 mixture of 3% hydrogen peroxide (4 parts water to 1 part HP). That should kill off any mites or larvae lurking in the soil and won't hurt the plant at all.

Can take a picture of them? Maybe they arent mites/nocive insects

Yuri

Are you by chance from the planet Ferenginar .

Steve

@Yuri Claro no pictures they are way too small and fast

No, Steve, but I am from Brazil. Lots of insects and rain, you get used to it.

I saw the skin tone color hat and it reminded me of a fictional character below this pic

I thought you might be a scyfi buff

they may not be mites, hydrogen peroxide as soil drench suggested works, in combination with an insecticidal soap/neem/kelp leaf spray regime while you spray top of soil every few days

I would try a Neem drench, at weekly intervals, for 3 weeks. It's cheap and works wonders for mites and all sorts of other nasties. Water normally in between if you water more than once a week.

Mix 1 1/2 teaspoons of neem oil per quart of water (1 oz per gallon) to make a spray mix. Add about 1/2 teaspoon (2 tsp per gallon) Dyna-Gro Pro-TeKt, mild liquid dish soap or other surfactant to get the oil to emulsify in water. Warm or hot tap water will make this process easier.

I forgot to say, it's the same proportions for a drench rien for a spray. ;ł

Gardengal, would that same suggestion kill off fungus gnats? I seem to have brought some inside with plants I recieved from vendors in which I have not been able to re pot yet nor will have the time.(

Atheen, thanks for your suggestion too. If the first method does not work in which I have lots of bottles of peroxide, I will go out to get Neem. Thank you)) Hope all is well these days.

Neem drench seemed to work for me. Going to do another one soon just to be sure. Still having leaf drop which is sad but not super concerned about it, as long as the branches stay alive, I’m cool Haha. Also decided to prune lower branches because I was suspicious they might be suckers. It’s hard to say because I can’t find a certain graft line and instead of guessing I went ahead and chipped them. Figured the plant is stressed enough, let it focus it’s energy on keeping the leaves and hopefully get stronger new growth. It’s very sad looking now with the combo of leaf drop and pruning but I have faith it will recover and was necessary. I’m giving it some down time right now, letting it be, keeping it by the south facing window even though it’s been quite gloomy here in Chicago, putting a humidifier on as much as possible but also letting it stay off sometimes too. I want it to really dry out before I neem drench and fertilize again. Then another cool off period for maybe a week and to assess its health before I get some LED lights and hopefully push it into growth again.

I would not hold off on getting lights or you’ll have even more leaf drop. Best of luck.

its cool room and store the tree essentially or get lights and get winter growth, especially since its a picky meyer

Thanks guys! I’m just worried I’m going to spend more money on a dead tree. I guess I can always get yet another tree and still use the light...god knows if this one doesnt make it I’ll go out and get another anyways. The other issue is picking the light. I dont want to hang any fixtures so probably going to look at clip lights or a floor lamp of some kind.

Been there, done that. There you go. :)

https://www.lowes.com/pd/allen-roth-Embleton-68-in-Brushed-Nickel-Multi-head-Floor-Lamp/50355884

Grace Romito :

just an idea... check for this spiders:

https://www.google.com/search?sa=X&q=hypoaspis+miles

The good guys, hard to kill anyway, that keep fungus gnat larvae at bay....

You should keep them!

@eSilviu Can’t say for sure but seems very likely! What a relief! Thank you!

@Atheen - 7a - in Maryland, USA You are a doll! thank you!

You're welcome, honey. :)