Is springtail culture worth the hassle or just skip it?

I set up a closed terrarium in my kitchen last month and added a springtail culture from a local shop in Portland. The mold that showed up on the moss after 2 weeks basically vanished in 4 days, which surprised me since I thought the whole thing was overhyped. But now I'm wondering if the extra cost and maintenance of keeping the culture alive is really necessary for every build, or if a simple open top with good airflow does the job just as well. My buddy swears he never uses them and his jars stay clean, but my experience says otherwise. Has anyone else tried going without them and seen mold take over, or is it all about the setup style?

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wesley80119d ago

Did you notice the mold came back at all after the springtails cleaned it up? I had a weird thing happen with my first jar where the springtails crashed after a few months (I think I let it dry out too much, my fault) and the mold stayed gone anyway. Maybe the springtails ate something the mold was feeding on, or maybe the mold just ran its course. My buddy's open jars do fine but he also lives in a dry place, so airflow and humidity might matter more than the bugs themselves. Anyway I still buy a culture for every new build now, mostly because watching them swarm a piece of mold is weirdly satisfying.

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