Hello! I’m in need of help and advice, my indoor houseplant population has exploded in the past months (approaching 100! my indoor jungle is exciting and beautiful) but I am now starting to notice an increased presence of small bugs. I am trying to identify them all so I can know whether they are harmful to plants or just going to be a quiet presence that should not cause any damage. I’m okay with bugs in general, so my main concern is protecting the investment I’ve made in my plants. My huge fear is a sudden pest explosion that takes many of them down. I already know I have fungus gnats and have been doing waterings with neem oil, letting my soil dry as much as the plants tolerate, and also an abundance of yellow sticky traps. And it feels like I have a hold on population control. But I have other bugs of different appearances and for which google has yet to help me feel confident in an ID.

https://youtu.be/WpYoJBF5u-E

1. In the first video there is this big bug that you see right away (fungus gnat? It didn’t fly…), which goes into the drainage hole, but then there are a bunch of much smaller clear bugs crawling around (pretty fast!) on the base. I cannot figure out what they might be … Are they juvenile fungus gnats that do not yet fly? Otherwise I thought they might be a Springtail? For size reference, I just bought a 10X magnifying glass that still doesn’t give me a great look at them. I have multiple plant pots that have these tinier bugs crawling around on their bottoms, just like I show here, and I assume they go into the bottom of the soil through the drainage hole so they must like moisture and/or dark. (Although side note: this particular plant doesn’t have a real soil in it, it’s an aloe that I have in a pebbly bonsai mixture. It’s really the last plant I might have expected to get bugs, apart from maybe mealybugs).

I have another plant, couldn’t get a good video, that had long thin tiny wormy bugs that waved and danced around at the soil surface after a watering. Per google, these are likely springtails, but they definitely look different than what I am seeing in the first video. Do springtails elongate with life?

https://youtu.be/BRrAgDIWVco

2. In this plant I noticed elongated silvery bugs with long-ish looking antennae that crawl in and around the soil. To my eye it looks like a different appearance from either bug in video 1, so I might have at least 3(!) sets of critters

https://youtu.be/5xvpsiBE8T8

https://youtu.be/K8qodHbjkb0

3a, 3b. These ones are a tan-orange colored bug that are more bulbous than elongated. It has longer legs and antennae. This one I thought might actually be Hypoaspis miles (now Stratiolaelaps), which I’m really hoping is the case since per google they’re actually going to help me out. 3a shows one of them and is a little less blurry, but if you look closely in 3b there are actually multiple of them on the stalks of my Dieffenbachia and in the soil. So I’m REALLY hoping they are good guys to have around otherwise I think I am in trouble.

Finally, any tips for pest control/fungus gnat control for any of my plants that require consistently moist soil (e.g. delicate ferns, nerve plant, new cuttings that I’m rooting out). I know the best way to combat gnats is by ensuring soil dries until a couple inches down … but that isn’t really feasible for all plants. I am not sure how well a delicate plant would tolerate neem oil-water?