Springtail Clay Care Guide

Springtail Clay and similar products is the easiest culture medium to harvest from and still boasts having phenomenal reproduction rates for the species that do well on it.

Materials Required:
--Springtail Clay powder (or similar clay blend from another brand)
--Water (distilled or purified water is best)
--Deli cups and lids (we prefer 32oz cups for our master cultures)
--Butter knife and spoon (not needed for 16oz cultures and smaller)

Setup Instructions:
--Mix two parts clay powder to one part water into an even consistency.
--For 16oz cultures and smaller, add a dollop of your wet clay and spread it evenly on the bottom of the container and halfway up the walls.
--For 32oz cultures add a large dollop of wet clay (we do 12oz of wet clay) and use the butter knife to spread it evenly on the walls and the spoon to spread it on the bottom.
--You can optionally add a tiny vent hole into the lid with ultrafine mesh glued over it for ventilation, although we opt to open our cultures regularly rather than ventilate them.

Care and Harvesting:
A common misconception is that springtails need very wet clay, this is actually counterproductive. Very wet clay will fully absorb food powder and go bad much faster. Clay that is slightly dry, so that when you poke it only a small amount sticks to you, is perfect. This clay will very slightly absorb the food powder and will lead the springtails to eat the clay itself which will slowly cause burrows and much more surface area to form.

To care for springtails on clay 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 clay stays damp. The best way to water the clay is to add one or two drops via pipette so that you don't accidentally get the clay too wet. If you use ventilation the clay will need to be watered more frequently.

To harvest from a clay culture is extremely easy, simply tilt the whole culture and tap the springtails out wherever they are needed.