Convinced you have the best springtail culture method?

[npaull]

Sometimes it seems there are as many ways to culture springtails as there are springtails in a culture.

If you're convinced that your way is truly awesome, post it here... because I'm not convinced that mine is.

[npaull]

Allright, so how about just very happy with your culturing methods?

[defaced]

Patience grasshopper. Five hours not long enough to invoke the genius of the dendroboard.

[bbrock]

I haven't tried it yet but get a copy of Live Foods by Bruse et al. in the Professional Breeders Series. They describe a springtail culture method that is a bit complicated to set up, but the photo of the culture is amazing. It is basically a chamber with many shallow trays and the springtails migrate to the bottom where they are collected in jars.

[crb_22601]

Not that it is a great method but it works for me. I just use peat substrate mixed with wood chips, moisten it and some mushrooms and then the springs wait a week. and I have a booming culture. when I need to feed I just pick up a mushroom and shake it in the tank and it works fine for me.

[thumbnail]

I use sterilite sweater boxes/32 quart I believe. I add 2 inches of bed-a-beast and a layer of magnolia leaves. I then add springtails. I sometimes add some coco-huts on occassion. I keep the cultures at room temp. and collecting from these cultures is very easy. I just sprinkle bakers yeast on top of the leaves and they swarm everywhere. I keep my cultures just moist enough to keep the bed-a-beast a darker color, but not sopping by no means. These are from the same tropical springtails that I bought a couple of years back. I have yet to need to purchase any extras. I literally have thousands in these springtails in each container. I use the coco-huts and leaves to seed tanks and just replace leaves and huts as needed.I am adding some pics of the cultures.

[flyangler18]

I wouldn't say that my method is awesome, but it is producing consistently. I use Sterlite shoeboxes for my springtail cultures. Substrate is a mix of coco-fiber, charcoal, orchid bark and some leaf litter (so the mix is nice and airy) I usually add a good layer of magnolia or oak leaves, sprinkle with yeast and moisten lightly. The substrate is moist and damp, but not flooded.

[Ed]

A lot of the issues with the culture are limited by food.. If you are feeding the culture sufficiently then it will boom and there can be variations between cultures set up the same way. I have a stack of small rubbermaid containers that are all set up the same way and in two of them the bottom of the container is literally white with springtails. The others have a high density but not to the same level.

Ed

[Android1313]

Originally Posted by defaced

Patience grasshopper. Five hours not long enough to invoke the genius of the dendroboard.

LOL! Mike, Hilarious!
Sounds like another instant classic to me! :lol:

[frogfarm]

Strait coco chips work best for MOST. There are a lot of different types and some are specialists. For the ones that can be mass cultured such as tropicals common silver etc. because it`s like a high rise apt. Lots of surface area stable enough to be covered on all sides w/ springs. the fungus feeders seem to turn mushrooms into there own substrate and burrow thru the dark organic " soils" they make. I rarely see these springs distributed througout the coco chips, they congrgate around this black top layer most of the time. these are the white and blues that look segmented kinda like worms and are longer than the trop springs. the blues(blacks) can be small or med size. This" group" of springs can be recognized by their ability to bbend their bodies when they turn, similar to a millipede.
The nice thing about the coco chips is that you can make a dump pile in the corner for then to feed off and you don`t have to worry about dryer coco peat being ingested en mass. Just dump a portion of the culture in the tank and add more coco chips to keep the culture going. no trying to transfer them off anything or getting them to congrgate in one area to remove for feeding.