Springtail Plaster Care Guide

Springtail Plaster and similar products are a widely used culture medium in scientific study and for certain springtails in hobby.










Materials Required:
--Springtail Plaster powder (or similar plaster blend)
--Water (distilled or purified water is best)
--Deli cups and lids (I prefer 16oz cups)
--Stir rod

Setup Instructions:
--Add two parts plaster to the bottom of your culture container and quickly stir in one part water. Optionally you can pre-mix and pour into culture cups. I use roughly 2oz of plaster by volume for 8 or 16oz deli cup cultures. 







--Let set for one hour or until fully solidified. Optionally the plaster can be spread or textured during the setting process.
--If there is too much water there may be a water layer above the set plaster. This is okay and your plaster will still solidify below the water.
--Once fully solidified rehydrate the plaster. I prefer to add a large amount of water for five to ten minutes with the cup tilted so the water doesn't lift the plaster. Pour off excess water and seed with your choice of springtails.







--You can optionally add a tiny vent hole into the lid with ultrafine mesh glued over it or adhesive vents stuck over it. I use these adhesive vents on all plaster cultures. 











Care and Harvesting:
To care for springtails on plaster all that you must do is feed them every 3-7 days (make sure all food is eaten between feedings and not to feed so much that it rots or molds) and make sure that the plaster stays damp. The best way to water the plaster is to add drops via pipette so that you don't accidentally get the plaster too wet. If you use ventilation the plaster will need to be watered more frequently.

The "plagnum" method entails adding a pile of sphagnum moss to one side of the culture. This increases surface area and drastically improves reproduction rate. I recommend trying this method.

To harvest from a plaster culture can be as easy as simply tilting the whole culture and tapping the springtails out, though this does carry the risk of spilling the entire puck of plaster out. Alternatively you can add things like charcoal for them to gather on, which you can then pick up and tap the springtails off of, or use an entomology aspirator.