Do I need to be worried about these guys....

Grandpa Hassan

Complete gardener beginner. I have a sun filled patio where I grow a load of things in pots....some small trees, tomatoes, roses etc. Was replanting some plants this afternoon and found some of these guys. They burrow into the soil when I let them go. Any experts out there who can tell me if these are harmless caterpillars or plant destroying bugs? It's about a cm and a half long. Thanks

Ps apologies if there is a thread for bug identification. I couldn't find one

lk67

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Complete gardener beginner. I have a sun filled patio where I grow a load of things in pots....some small trees, tomatoes, roses etc. Was replanting some plants this afternoon and found some of these guys. They burrow into the soil when I let them go. Any experts out there who can tell me if these are harmless caterpillars or plant destroying bugs? It's about a cm and a half long. Thanks

Ps apologies if there is a thread for bug identification. I couldn't find one

Pretty sure it's a woodlouse grub. Wouldn't worry about it.

endacl

That's exactly what it is. Very beneficial in your compost. Pop them in there.

marask

Dont agree this is a woodlouse, woodlice look same during all their life stages (eexcept egg..) and grow by shedding top layer rather than going thru larvae stage,
this is more likely some sort of a beetle, in my opinion

Halfprice

Send on a picture and that'll sort your question out.

galljga1

It looks like a vine weevil to me: not good.
If left alone they will eat the roots of your plants and they (the plants) will wither and die.
Nematodes can work against them or there are various chemicals. A garden centre should be able to sort you out.
You are probably going to have to treat your plants periodically (depending on what treatment you chose) for over a year to ensure you cater for the larvae - adult - larvae cycle.

lk67

galljga1 wrote: »

It looks like a vine weevil to me: not good.
If left alone they will eat the roots of your plants and they (the plants) will wither and die.
Nematodes can work against them or there are various chemicals. A garden centre should be able to sort you out.
You are probably going to have to treat your plants periodically (depending on what treatment you chose) for over a year to ensure you cater for the larvae - adult - larvae cycle.

Definitely not vine weevil. Google some images for woodlouse grubs. Looks the same to me.

Edit: Ignore second 2 sentences! See marask above^^^

galljga1

lk67 wrote: »

Definitely not vine weevil!

Are they not? They look very alike. How do you distinguish one from the other?

lk67

galljga1 wrote: »

Are they not? They look very alike. How do you distinguish one from the other?

I've seen enough of them unfortunately. You don't get that black patch at rear. Shape different too.

Although looking again I think marask above is right. It's some sort of beetle. Still wouldn't be overly concerned.

Grandpa Hassan

Seems hard to tell from the pictures. I'm a little worried that a couple of the plants died for absolutely no reason. Which is consistent with vine weevil. I might go to the garden centre and check out vine weevil treatments anyway. Have just planted tomatoes and I'd hate to not have a bumper tomato crop this year. Of I got a vine weevil treatment, would it kill everything else too? I'm not keen to kill any innocent little critters.....

Edit: thanks for your help, by the way, everyone. I'm getting quite into this gardening thing....

galljga1

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Seems hard to tell from the pictures. I'm a little worried that a couple of the plants died for absolutely no reason. Which is consistent with vine weevil. I might go to the garden centre and check out vine weevil treatments anyway. Have just planted tomatoes and I'd hate to not have a bumper tomato crop this year. Of I got a vine weevil treatment, would it kill everything else too? I'm not keen to kill any innocent little critters.....

If you bring one of these guys to a garden centre, particularly a nursery, they probably have someone on hand who can give you the best advice on what it is and the best way to treat it and whether the treatment will cause insect genocide or not.

Grandpa Hassan

I will do that. Thanks all. Expect to hear from me again when I mess something up!

cerastes

That doesn't look like a wood louse to me, not that I've seen them at earlier developmental stages, but it looks fairly big and I've seen quite tiny woodlouse's so by that size I'd expect it to look like a formed grey coloured woodlouse.
Bring it in a little transparent pot or the garden centre might not be too happy.
Not sure how you would defeat them, maybe if you can look up gardening websites that describe pests? Or beneficial insects to try find out what it is and maybe how best to tackle it naturally?
Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit, its the only way to be sure :eek:

lk67

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Seems hard to tell from the pictures. I'm a little worried that a couple of the plants died for absolutely no reason. Which is consistent with vine weevil. I might go to the garden centre and check out vine weevil treatments anyway. Have just planted tomatoes and I'd hate to not have a bumper tomato crop this year. Of I got a vine weevil treatment, would it kill everything else too? I'm not keen to kill any innocent little critters.....

Edit: thanks for your help, by the way, everyone. I'm getting quite into this gardening thing....

I was wrong about the woodlouse but they're definitely not vine weevil. They are a beetle grub as mentioned above.

There's only one common chemical based vine weevil killer available to the public and it will kill most soil critters and a few above ground too.

Nematodes would have to be ordered for you or by you as I'm pretty sure most garden centres don't stock them, as they are living control and have a short shelf life.

Having said all that, it's a nice day to visit a garden centre so work away! See what they say...

C.K Dexter Haven

It's not a woodlouse larvae. Woodlice grow internally in the adult host. It looks similar to a chaferbug larvae, which is harmful.

http://www.greenfingers.uk.com/product/pest-treatments/

TAZ32

Looks like an immature chafer grub to me. 6 legs each but hasnt formed the curve yet

rje66

Have a google for chafer grubs, might bethe ones

Grandpa Hassan

Unequivocal response from the garden centre was that it was a vine weevil. There is an infestation across SE England right now (I'm in London). Said that he'd bet that when I pulled out the dead shrubs they weren't attached to the roots, which was exactly right. Homebase had almost a whole section of just stuff to kill vine weevils. Fairly easy to get rid of though by the sounds of things, and everyone round here has to deal with them

Thanks for your help everyone

lk67

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Unequivocal response from the garden centre was that it was a vine weevil. There is an infestation across SE England right now (I'm in London). Said that he'd bet that when I pulled out the dead shrubs they weren't attached to the roots, which was exactly right. Homebase had almost a whole section of just stuff to kill vine weevils. Fairly easy to get rid of though by the sounds of things, and everyone round here has to deal with them

Thanks for your help everyone

Grand.....but they're wrong. They're not vine weevil grubs. Google some images of their life cycle and see how different they are...

Vine weevils are a big problem even here in Ireland and there are few controls unfortunately.

I think that those above who mentioned chafer grubs are closer to right. Same chemicals will probably control both so you should be sorted anyway.

C.K Dexter Haven

they're the taliban of the Garden Centre- be very afraid:eek::eek::eek::eek:

:P

cheif kaiser

It's a May Bug larvae (Cockchafer beetle). Had them in my plants before and spend ages trying to identify them. If you dig your garden at this time of the year you will also find them buried in the soil. The adults usually appear in late April, May and early June and lay their eggs in lawns and soil. The grubs than hatch about four to six weeks later and can take up to 4 years to develop fully so maybe back to the garden centre for the correct potion to deal with them. I certainly would not be giving them any more money because they really should have been able to identify them in 2 seconds flat! They are massively common at this time of the year, their name and the time of the year should have given it away! Vine weevil do not have that black section at the back and just look like grubs, although all are very similar.

ronivek

I recommend posting your picture here:http://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisbug/

There are a number of entomologists and so forth who can probably help you out.