My mint plants were doing beautifully and then all of a sudden many of the leaves started turning a bronze color with many tiny black dots on the underside which I am assuming is bug feces. I
Removed over 100 leaves and found there were just a very few tint black bugs
that are probably 1/64 of an inch long and the width of the strand of very fine single hair

I had them in a plastic bag and videotape them because it looks like they jumped as well as crawled

I had trouble trying to download a photo to you and I think the video would be better if you can send me an email ad

The video is even better because you can see the size of the bug and how it appears to hop

Pat, to NGA!

It sounds like you may have an (non)insect called springtails.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/g...

Daisy

Can you capture a single frame from the video and post it here, or maybe upload the video to YouTube and post us a link? As Daisy said, it would be useful to know roughly where you are so as to determine what suspects might occur there.

If you had visible black specks that looked like bug droppings, it sounds unlikely from the size of the black hopping things that the two were associated. Or are you thinking the original black dots were actually the critters?

I'm not sure what they would be, since they're so tiny. Springtails do hop but usually there aren't a whole lot of them on the aerial parts of a plant because they are more soil oriented. There are some that feed on plants but I'm wondering if this is something else. I initially thought flea beetles but they would be too big to be the hopping things.

Another option if you can't post a photo or a link to the video would be to post this question on the Insect and Bug ID forum, here:

http://garden.org/forums/view/...

I think you are right! If they hop I hope this finds it is definitely that


How do I treat that?

My video didn't load but I just did little research online and I do think that it sounds like springtails

That said the article I read said to him was that if that's the case then I think I have something else because my leaves are definitely covered in something that covers the leaf in a bronze color and I noticed even baby leaves have it.

I'll try to send a photo of that and if you could please tell me how to treat the plant

As far as I understand it, you would have to upload the video to YouTube and then post a link here, you can't put videos on this site.

I can't really tell what those black things are, so can't eliminate their being springtails but if they're springtails I doubt they're doing that damage. Have you looked under the leaves for spider mites or other mites? The underside picture isn't sharp enough to see. If you put a leaf on a sheet of white paper then the camera may focus better on the leaf.

What kind of mint is it, and is it growing indoors out out in the garden? We need to get a better idea of what the problem is to know what to suggest for treatment.