Garden Worms

pm.

Hi, I have sown a garden now for 2 years its aprox a third of an acre, i mainly sow spuds but last year i came across a white kinda see through worm with a black head, i was told it was a grub worm and it bores holes in the spuds:mad: . is there some kind of chemical i can put down to kill him as he ruind a few spuds last year and im afraid he will do more damage as the years go on.

homerhop

don't know about a chemical but as far as I know they are the larva of daddy long legs

charlesanto

Surely the point of growing your own spuds is to have organic spuds.
Why would you want "some kind of chemical i can put down to kill him".
My family grew some veggies when i was a kid, as far as i can remember we could only really early varieties of potato - the later ones would always get eaten.
It makes sence to grow the earlier varieties anyway because that's when they are most expensive in the shops.

Seth Brundle

Was this it... (about 1 inch)
http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/leatherj.htm
http://pnwpest.org/potato/leathjacket.html
they are leatherjackets
the first link aso mentions a biocontrol

You could also contact IOGFA [www.irishorganic.ie] for help.

googs

You could try a nematode based insecticide, which kill the larvae of several common soil pests including leatherjackets, cutworms etc.... this is a non chemical approach as it is basically millions of microscopic eelworms which kill the larvae. Also you could try some crop rotation which is always good practice as it helps prevent the build up of certain pests associated with particular crops... leatherjackets are not really see-true...

pm.

thanks all for the help found what i was looking for

folgi

those f*cking leatherjackets- i just picked 60, yes 60 (and yes i counted them!!!!!) of them out of my strawberry bed this evening having spotted 2 of the plants going downhill fast. there they were nestled in, chomping away at the roots, fat as fools- i was so annoyed- they are a curse.
so resistant to using anything but hard work and song singing on my veg plants, so i resorted to getting down on my hands and knees and sifting the soil in that bed- it worked last year when i spotted same problem with lettuce and i can be safe in the knowledge that my produce is as close to naturally produced as it can be.
keep a close eye out though- a young plant could be developing nicely and the next day they're a gonner- they'll look like they were cut off right at soil level.