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Worms.. but which?

Ca++

Well-known member
Dozen cuts in a 40 cell tray for 3 weeks, had a little soak after drying out, and I find this in the dunk tray.
itchy.jpg

The usual springtails floating about (maybe 15 in this shot) and 20ish worms. I think needle nematodes are the best fit, but I'm still not sure. It's a bit fat for a needle. Maybe 10mm long, and does keep bending back n forth quite quickly.

I mixed up some all round insect spray, and dunked them in that. It seemed these in the tray died, but 24h later I'm dunking again, and some are still coming out alive.

I can't possibly move these cuts into bigger pots, then my finals. They were going slow, and that 24h after treatment, really showed how much better they should be.
The treatment was done, when they were already wet. A few dunks, but perhaps the blocks didn't get to fully loaded with insecticide. I fear these are not going to die though.

Another hit, with a wetting agent?

I'm really hoping someone has killed these off before. I feel sure it's from the coco. These needle toads are not a local one, they are from coco land. If they are needles. They seem too fat.

f**king itchy sheets stopping my next cycle. I can't realistically use this coco if I can't kill them, so just popped some seeds in an old desiccated bag of compost
 
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Ca++

Well-known member
Oh.. not a needle. Right length, but the needle really is a lot thinner. We can't see them without magnification.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
48h later, on their 2nd watering (it's daily) I got just 3 come out. 2 living. So treated again.

I found them in the flowering. I was already content they hadn't got in, when my eye found the right focus. So one of my ailing flowering plants got a good treatment to. It makes it bin fodder, but the knowledge could be valuable.

That was the good news.

I woke after a bad dream, with an itchy arse. Some worms can infest both people and soil. They look a lot like these. If I have caught worms from my coco, I'm gonna be.. unhappy.

Now I'm looking at worming tabs for dogs and fish tanks. looking what's in them, and such. Did you know half a kg of active ingredient went from $3 in 2010 to $3000 in 2019 (with a little rounding)
That's a big shift.

I shall now go poop, and see if my dream of the monster coming out the cave to eat me was accurate.
 

ZOnaVerde

Well-known member
Veteran
They look like parasitic worms (many parasites tend to be white).
I found something similar 10+ years ago after extracting water directly from the ground without filtering it. Very similar worms, the ones in the water were 1/4 of what you have. These parasites come from water/ground, wet places and can certainly "climb" into a tank without problems.

I used the water for outdoors and there were no problems.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
There seems to be a range of worming products. Most listing every worm likely to exist, but it's interesting the tank detritis worm needs something else.
This raises the question of what else is living in there. What they may carry. We have seen bits of shoe, and all sorts. Most life in our soils isn't visible. So it's hard to say what there is.

I presume killing host worms and todes, will leave any virus they carry, nowhere to live. Killing it, as it needs a host?
After treating my cuts, I was hoping to see them dead on contact almost. Which is a little unrealistic. A dog wormer, can still have them dying 5 days later.
What I used, was a systemic insecticide, that can be used on fruits, but not eaten straight away. Today I looked at my cuts with fresh eyes. They are rocking away, full steam ahead. As fast as any cut ever has. I have used it outside on plants in veg, and seen a similar boost in performance. I think the pressure upon our plants is usually higher than we realise. My cuts have done 7 days in 1 day, now the living stuff has been knocked back.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
My cuts are much happier having had a dose of insecticide. I read pot worms are happy in soil, but if root bound, will eat the roots. A lot of them were present.

If they are clean tomorrow, I will pull a couple out the tray, to look at the roots properly. I have just done a few more seeds, but think using rice has crisped some in storage.

It's interesting that neem is a treatment. My main pots were done with neem weeks ago. Not a huge dose (as I was running low) but still enough to kill the gnats
 

Ca++

Well-known member
I still have a couple, but if I sized them from 1 - 10, where 1 is the smallest I have ever seen.. these are that 1. I'm guessing these are as small as they come, as they just popped from an egg or something. If I knew the worm, I could hit them before they get old enough to have more offspring. As I don't know, I need to hit them far too often, for an as yet unknown time.
So I bought a shit ton of pesticide, and will soon grow a second head. Then I might be able to figure it out :)
 
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Ca++

Well-known member
I have been pretty much hitting them every other day. Today was the first day with nothing to see. Yesterday was just one. It's been low since that first day, so I feel I am just mopping up the eggs as they hatch. Which might go on for 10 days?

I got some new pots filled, and given a good dose. No plants in them. I'm just prepping. I think I should treat this whole sack, then it's good when I come to use it. Not just the worms, but the usual gnats, and who knows what else.

This isn't sustainable though. I have a few seeds up, and I'm eyeing neem. Which oddly enough, isn't allowed to be used on plants, in the UK
 
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