Once beautiful plants are starting to look bad.

[chenman07]

I just check two of the five plants and neither were root bound. In fact the roots were not even close to filling in the whole pot yet. It seems like there has not been a large amount of growth in the roots since the last transplant.

[stinkyattic]

Again... poor oxygenation means that there will be a discrepancy between nominal pot size and useable pot size.

[chenman07]

Flushed the plants and got rid of the stock drainage attachments.

I noticed several small bugs crawling over the surface of the soil after i had flushed the soil. I can try to get a picture but they are about the size of a pin head and remind me of seed ticks. I cannot give more details at the moment due to lack of a magnifying glass or eagle eyes.

Any idea what this bug may be and how it will affect the plant? Any safe way to eradicate them?

[stinkyattic]

Adult thrips may often be found on the soil surface.
If there is a very wet condition, like the trays could have been causing, you are creating conditions for fungus gnats. Dry out their homes, and they go away.