I've Got Worms ! !

[Johnny Rotten]

Heh, not really, but these guys hove shown up in force in my compost bin:



They sure are hungry. Whatever i put in gets devoured. Are they good? Should i encourage them to be there? They don't seem to put out "castings," more like worm sludge. I open up the lid and the whole top layer is moving.

 

[Guest]

larvae maggot I dont know this is a worm

 

[theFLINTSTONERS]

doesn't look like an earthworm . . .

like octodiem stated . . . it looks more like some kinda larvae you've got there . . .

it doesn't look like anything we'd want in our garden (tweedy is getting out the references to see if we can ID your bug) . . . earthworms are one thing . . . grubs and larvae are quite another . . .

it's always hard to ID pests from pics . . . but . . . one possible ID is a "root weevil" . . . certainly NOT wanted in your grow . . .

do the critters curl up into a little ball if disturbed? - if that's the case they'd be pill bugs or sowbugs . . . we called them "roly-poly's" as kids . . . they are a decomposer like earthworms but we don't consider them to be beneficials . . .

 

[Lucky 7]

yeah, not good; most maggots multiply like the devil . . . research will tell U how to elimnate; possibly Bt . . .

 

[Guest]

if your compost gets hot enough the maggots will die. I dont worry about them at all. they leave castings just like e worms.

 

[Johnny Rotten]

Thanks Guys. My compost heats up plenty as i'm in the DEEP south and it turns out pretty damn good. I have two bins, a black trashcan with holes in it for almost done compost/storage and one i bought for beginning compost and adding scraps to. They are all in the starter bin. They were there in the last batch but left when there was no food. I scooped a few into this new batch and they have seriously multiplied. I wonder how there even there as the compost bin get really hot. My finished compost comes out beautiful and smelling great. No worms in it at all.

I know what a regular maggot looks like and i know what a "roly poly" is.....These guys have a softer body......i'm thinking some type of weird maggot or larvae. I hope they aren't bad, my plants are loving the last batch of compost.

Thanks for the help everybody. I'm looking through my organic gardening book as we speak. I've still got questions but i need to know what the hell it is first.

If You look at the picture....His head is on the top right and seems to extend out of his body. His ass looks like the head of a meal worm. His body isn't as hard as a meal worm. I'm clueless...

 

[gromer]

Dude that looks to me like a cut worm.Notorious for showing up in un treated compost.Will do a number on your plants get rid of em...ASAP!!!

 

[Johnny Rotten]

I think i found out what they are. They are Garden Soldier Fly Larvae. They don't seem to harm anything and definitely are great at breaking down waste quickly. Definitely a useful little bug, as long as the flies stay away.

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/r...ertebrates/invertid/bug_details.asp?Bu_ID=175

It seems they like the heat and a moist environment. This would make sense as it's been raining a ton and it's summer. They weren't in the last batch so much because it was drier and cooler.

I think i'm gonna keep feeding them. They seem to like the heat. Nature is so amazing. It can conform and flourish in such harsh conditions.
Thanks you guys. I learned something today.

 

[Guest]

thanks JR i learned smothing, thats why i love ic

 

[Johnny Rotten]

I've been doing some research and it seems I've stumbled onto a pretty cool little bug. They are great composters of fresh green kitchen waste as well as meats. They break the food down enough for the regular worms to eat, quickening the composting cycle.

The larvae is also used as chicken and fish feed and is very high in protein. There life cycle consists of egg to small white larvae. They then mature and turn a darker brown. When they are mature, they lay eggs and then look for a place to molt into a Soldier Fly. They can be counted on to crawl up to higher ground and attempt to molt. Collection is done by a small ramp connected to a pvc pipe that dumps into a bucket. They seem to produce quite a bit. I'm very tempted to go get me a chicken since i have all this free food going to waste. At the very least i have some free fish bait.

The only downside is they can be a sign of a wet and unhealthy compost heap. As long as you know it isn't too wet and you turn it regularly the larvae can be an integral part of a healthy and productive compost ecosystem. You can also purchase these larvae eggs.

 

[Escobar]

that worm look so nasty killem all

 

[Johnny Rotten]

Yea they do....and my alfalfa tea smells pretty damn bad. Good looks and good smells don't make good organics.

I just put some food in there and i'm gonna take a picture and see how long it takes them to eat it. I just got done turning the compost pile so it may take them a bit to find the food.

 

[Deft]

I see those all the time in my soil.. they seem to live underground as a grub or somthing then turn to that which is hard like a butterfly crysalis but can move and respond to touch then it attaches itself to somthing somehow and then somthing I have not observed emerges... very wierd.

 

[Guest]

what i want to know is will they hurt my plants if there in the soil when i transplant. they really seem to make composting faster and my rebuilt soil looks awsome because of them.

 

[gromer]

Are there like a bunch of these things?Man too many of anything lookin like that I dont think would be good anywhere,ugly little bastards.

 

[Johnny Rotten]

AeroKush101, Thanks for your "info" but you don't seem to have experience with organics so, kindly, fuk off. If you read my thread you would know i didn't add them and they are in my compost, no where near my grow.

I've found some studies saying the larvae will feed on sugarcane roots. I don't know if this applies or not but i'd rather them not eat my roots. I think they are excellent in my compost pile, though. I plan on storing the compost after it is fully done in my holed trashcan. There, the eggs should hatch and when they have no food, they will crawl out in search of food. I still have compost from the last batch and i have soil mixed up with this compost as an ingredient. No sign of larvae, and it's been a month and a half.

I tried to do my experiment but got stoned and fell asleep. By the time i woke up a few hours later it was gone.

 

[Johnny Rotten]

Nobody knows anything else about these Larvae? I'd sure appreciate someone with some REAL experience, not "ewww dood, those are fugly bro"..... Did they munch your roots?? I'm thinking as a precautionary measure, when i use this batch, i'll put some sliced apple or whatever on the surface of the soil and wait a few hours to remove and see if there are any in the soil. I know they will go for the apple over the roots. Then i can just pick them out. I've put weeds with roots in the compost and the didn't touch it.

 

[Guest]

You got a local ag extension office around you somewhere? I'd bet you they could tell you what it oughis and wheither it would eat your TOMATO plants roots. Just my stoner thought. Keep on composting, Johnny Rotten. Hey! composting, rotten....oh *&^ nevermind...old stoner amusing himself

 

[buzzmobile]

Good ID, Johnny Rotten

Good ID, Johnny Rotten

Soldier fly larvae eat decaying organic matter. If your plants are a soggy mess of putrifying roots then you should be concerned. Otherwise don't worry about them. Soldier fly larvae eat so much decaying matter that house fly larvae are unable to compete. When the larvae enter the pupal stage they crawl to a dry protected location and eventually emerge as adult flies. They won't hurt a healthy plant.

 

[Johnny Rotten]

I just got done emptying my compost bin and sifting it through a 1/2 in. mesh and let me tell ya, It looks WAY more broken down than the last batch. Most of the compost is broken down soo fine it falls through the screen without coaxing. Beautiful black compost......looks like purchased worm castings.

I still found a few oak leaves and some plant material not thoroughly broken down, so they will go back in. I tried to sift out as many Larvae as possible but quite a few slid right through the mesh.

The compost will go into my secondary "curing" bin, that has holes drilled into it where it will finish composting. I put this in a larger trash bin and wrapped a piece of clear package tape around the top to keep the larvae from crawling out. Hopefully they wont be able to get footing on the tape and they will fall to the bottom.

I've tested these worms as fish bait and let me tell ya, THEY KICK ASS !! Bass and Brim love them and offshore baitfish love them. I gave my buddy a few scoops to try out and he came back and gave me some nice steaks of Cobia and a bit of Mahi as a thank you.