I saw the soil on my raised bed moving and saw these little guys. I tried to get some and was surprised to see that there’s a million of them! What are these and are they going to hurt the garden? If so, what should I do? I have established peppers there, young onions, and just planted a bunch of seeds there.
by terrible_plant_mom
10 Comments
Worms! Anything creepy crawly is good I think
I also have the same problem with one of my raised garden beds where I am growing lettuces. I am new at gardening, I believe they are called root maggots or grubs, and they eat the plants’ roots.
Get a chicken and let em loose
What is happening?! I posted something close to this and no one has clear answer. Are we being invaded?
Oh man, these are definitely not earth worms and are some kind of larvae. Google reverse image suggests fungus gnat or army cut worms. You don’t want either in your garden, especially in such quantities. Neem is t going to do anything. You need to look into other options. I don’t have experience with these, but you’re going to definitely regret not taking action.
My money is on fungus gnat larvae. You wanna get on it quick if it is. They thrive in moisture so let the soil dry out as much as you can.
I’d introduce beneficial nematodes – they should be a sort of fix all if it’s a different pest and won’t harm your plants, pets etc.
Diatomaceous earth might put a stop to them.
These look like cutworms. They shelter in the soil during the day. Moth larvae. They will definitely hurt your plants. Cornmeal (effective but slow), beneficial nematodes, or BT. Skip the DE, it’s a last resort carpet bomber that will destroy all the beneficial crawlies in your soil.
My best guess is army worm. Look up pictures of the larval stage and compare.
Root maggots was quite close. It’s the larvae of a march fly species. Interesting find. Very disturbing.
https://preview.redd.it/he6vaae13asd1.png?width=1167&format=png&auto=webp&s=142cd969c6a7b103ae389b6dfdad22b796e92a33