# what charcoal for springtail culture



## derangedjester (May 25, 2006)

howdy all,
whats the best way to set up the charcoal and water springtail cultures. i have the shoe box rubbermaid containers. but dunno what charcoal to get, and how much to add. and all the cultures you buy are soil based...how do i transfer the springtails to the new culture without adding all the soil??


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## 311_dart (May 20, 2006)

search "springtail AND charcoal" you will find more than enough info.
here is one:
http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13392&

today i bought some charcoal from my local Fresh Market/Organic Food store and started another culture. i have some living in spahgnum and some in coco fiber. they are hard to collect in the two i have now, hopefully this other method will be easier. good luck


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## rjmarchisi (Feb 16, 2004)

http://www.orchid-supplies.com/potting_supplies.html

At the bottom of the page they have the larger clean charcoal.

Rob


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Or you could pay 1/4 the price for a bag of regular hardwood charcoal that is the same thing...and pick it up locally...
http://www.cowboycharcoal.com/find.htm


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I picked up a bag of that for less than 5 bucks at lowes.


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## kgb (Aug 2, 2011)

How do you break up the large peices into smaller peices for a cultre without making a mess?????


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

kgb said:


> How do you break up the large peices into smaller peices for a cultre without making a mess?????


Grab an old pillowcase out of the closet. Put your Cowboy or Frontier brand charcoal from Lowes into the pillowcase and either start smacking with a hammer or run over it in your car (yes seriously!). Before Varanoid chews me out again, the pillowcase idea was his.  Instructions on transferring from dirt onto charcoal are found on page 3 of my culturing thread. http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/66991-how-culture-isopods-woodlice-springtails.html


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

I like to use coco fiber with big chunks of charcoal sitting just on top of the soil in a rubbermaid shoebox.When I want to feed I just pick up a chunk and tap a bunch into a viv and springs everywhere  


Lou


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Something I've noticed very recently is that adding a small square or two of corrugated cardboard (like is already common practice for isopods) to a few of my charcoal spring cultures has significantly increased the numbers.

I'm not sure if this applies to all varieties, but it has definitely worked with the mini temperate silvers, I just added it to the other cultures to find out. I think it gives them some organic matter for a bit of mold to grow on between feedings, but I'm not really sure.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

tclipse said:


> Something I've noticed very recently is that adding a small square or two of corrugated cardboard (like is already common practice for isopods) to a few of my charcoal spring cultures has significantly increased the numbers.
> 
> I'm not sure if this applies to all varieties, but it has definitely worked with the mini temperate silvers, I just added it to the other cultures to find out. I think it gives them some organic matter for a bit of mold to grow on between feedings, but I'm not really sure.


Maybe some additional surface area, too. There's a lot of surface area between that corrugation.


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## gturmindright (Mar 15, 2006)

Does it work nicer to be able to take out a piece of cardboard and shake it out in the viv instead of filling it up with water and dumping it etc?


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

gturmindright said:


> Does it work nicer to be able to take out a piece of cardboard and shake it out in the viv instead of filling it up with water and dumping it etc?


That's what I was doing already with larger charcoal pieces placed on top of their food supply, but yeah.... and they seem to flock to it to an extent (not as much as a mushroom, but noticeably more than the culture around it). I would still flush the water occasionally to clean it out, but it's definitely easy. 

Just checked on my blues, it's been working for them also and I only added the pieces a few days ago. For some reason, I was having high mortality rates with the blues and mini silvers on charcoal alone, the number of dead bodies I can see is way down. I'm not sure if it would make a difference for types that do fine on plain charcoal (i.e. folsomia) but I'm giving it a try and will let you all know.


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## Dizzle21 (Aug 11, 2009)

Ya ive been doing the cardboard too. 2-3 pieces on the bottom and 2 on top. Whats the benefit to having water on the bottom of the culture?


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## SnakePaparazzi (Jul 20, 2008)

I've been using medium hardwood charcoal I get from a hydroponics shop here in SoCal and feeding strictly yeast:







---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.022658,-117.120657


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Dizzle21 said:


> Ya ive been doing the cardboard too. 2-3 pieces on the bottom and 2 on top. Whats the benefit to having water on the bottom of the culture?


The water on the bottom adds humidity to the culture. Also, a bacterial film will grow on the surface of the water. Some springtails like blues and temperate whites, will spend a lot of time floating on the surface of the water and feeding on that film.
To those posting that they are using different types of charcoal, any hardwood or horticultural charcoal will work just fine. We only push the Frontier and Cowbow brand because they are so inexpensive. Just stay away from the formed briquettes like Kingsford.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Pumilo said:


> Maybe some additional surface area, too. There's a lot of surface area between that corrugation.


For sure, but it's interesting that the concentration of springs is much higher in and around the cardboard than the charcoal. I put a couple of pieces in my Tomocerus cultures last night and they are already swarming it.....

added pieces to the other cultures (trop whites, trop pinks, temp whites on top of what I already mentioned) as well but haven't checked those yet. gimme a few minutes/hours and i'll see what's up with those too.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

tclipse said:


> For sure, but it's interesting that the concentration of springs is much higher in and around the cardboard than the charcoal. I put a couple of pieces in my Tomocerus cultures last night and they are already swarming it.....
> 
> added pieces to the other cultures (trop whites, trop pinks, temp whites on top of what I already mentioned) as well but haven't checked those yet. gimme a few minutes/hours and i'll see what's up with those too.


 
That is because cardboard is manufactured with a starch adhesive and the springtails are feeding on the microbes that are feeding on the cardboard.... 

Ed


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

I start the woodstove [or fireplace outside in summer], burn up a nice batch of hardwood like oak....and when the coals are a nice 2-3 inchs....I shovel a bunch out of the stove....and douse them in water....instant free charcoal.

Thanks for the cardboard idea, I will give that a try.

Shawn


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Ed said:


> That is because cardboard is manufactured with a starch adhesive and the springtails are feeding on the microbes that are feeding on the cardboard....
> 
> Ed


I would assume then that it'll have to be replaced occasionally as the adhesive is broken down?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Teddy, they will completely consume it as it breaks down, so yes, you'll have to toss more in now and then.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Pumilo said:


> Teddy, they will completely consume it as it breaks down, so yes, you'll have to toss more in now and then.


Oh, I know the cardboard will like it does in isopod cultures.... but was thinking the starch adhesive may break down well before then


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

tclipse said:


> Oh, I know the cardboard will like it does in isopod cultures.... but was thinking the starch adhesive may break down well before then


OK, I thought that was on odd one for you to be asking. 

I can't believe Ed hasn't answered you by now! It's almost like he's trying to have a life or something.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Pumilo said:


> OK, I thought that was on odd one for you to be asking.
> 
> I can't believe Ed hasn't answered you by now! It's almost like he's trying to have a life or something.


Maybe the rabbit got him.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Oh crap! And he's out of Batman pills!


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