Greenhouse studies at Virginia Tech Univ. indicate tiny soil-borne wingless insects may get the call to help growers in continued fights against tough herbicide-resistant weed species.

A 4-week 2025 study by researchers Ashley Jernigan and Lynn Sosnoskie suggests soil microarthropods, specifically the springtail Collembola species Isotomiella minor, (I. minor), can reduce overall weed biomass of by up to 23%. However, that came after an initial increase in weed emergence during the first two weeks of the treatment, before falling in the last two weeks of the trial — potentially due to thickness differences in weed seed coats.

Jernigan says weed seeds with a thick and textured seed coat could be fed on by springtails without affecting the seed’s viability. This could explain why weeds such as yellow foxtail and common lambsquarters were less affected than weeds with thinner, smoother seed coats such as pigweeds.

She also suspects the thinner seed coats could have contributed somewhat to the initial increase in germination.

“Whenever there was a thinner seed coat, the Collembola feeding would potentially stimulate germination, but then likely harm the seed by feeding through to the embryo,” she explains. “Also, the presence of I. minor could have increased the nutrients in the soil. We’ll need to do much more study to determine those things.” 

The springtail in the…