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NAME THIS BUG/WORM!!

inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
So i am pretty certain i can add a link to a youtube video...

This clear worm-like creature was found while trying to catch an image of the Root Aphids that i have seen through my magnifying glass. I just picked up this USB camera to try and get a Root aphid image to send to a professional and attempt to get a predator for it.

In the process I was surprised to find hundreds of these in each of the one gallon pots i inspected for R. Aphids.

Some Nasty looking crawlers. and still did not get my R. Aphid Image.

Anyone know what these are?
http://youtu.be/R75dhT1TQbI
They are not Fungus gnat larvae.

:thank you:
 
R

rootcap

Member
soil nematodes.

as far as i can see they are good. they can be good for insect control if i got it right...
and as i can see it's kinda problematic to kill them.
you need to bring the soil to higher temps, dont know exactly what temp but it suppose to be harm for your plants.

anyway, maybe someone else got any solution for them other then heating... i would love to hear it.

good luck.
 
F

fungzyme

Active member
I was going to say nematodes too, but I didn't think they had that long of a body (?) I agree it would help to know what magnification you filmed that with.
 
Canniwhatsis

Canniwhatsis

High country cat herder
Veteran
Some kind of Nematode for sure. Much bigger than the ones I spotted in my soil previously, but there's literally tens of thousands of kinds of nematodes. Most of them are beneficial decomposers, but if there's that many of them it might be a sign of bigger problems.
 
inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
Thanks for checking it out guys/gals. It was/is pretty freaky. They look like they are swimming through the coco. Too many to count.

I filmed that somewhere around 20x magnification. I can't say exactly because to focus i need to change the magnification slightly. It seemed i was usually around 20x.

The aphids are never in as many numbers so i was not able to catch a vid, but it made me wonder if these things are there hunting the Root Aphids? They seem to be a similar size as i could only get good looks at the aphids with my 30x loupe. Or these things are there to eat up the dead roots before the hygrozyme gets a chance to decompose it? This seems more likely to me. They seemed to squirm in/out/over/around the roots but i can't say i caught any images of them clearly eating the roots. Hard to say as the roots definitely look like root aphid effected roots... All just theories, i have been dealing with Root Aphids for many many moons...
 
inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
If these are Nematodes they are a lot larger than the description of soil nematodes i am finding online. I first discovered them by looking with my naked eye on the bottom of a smart pot, and seeing what looked like a thin dead root, wiggle. Then with the 20x mag i was seeing them everywhere.
I was controlling the Root aphids, had furry roots and drinking plants for a few rounds. This current rounds plants are not drinking normal and showing general signs of unhappiness. I am beginning to wonder if these bugs may be eating my healthy roots as well. I sent a video to a beneficial insect seller and hopefully will get a positive ID.
At this point I can only hope to find a new weapon to kill my soil-dwelling pests. Chemicals are not working, Met52 and botanicare not good enough, time to try some beneficial insects...
 
R

rootcap

Member
it sounds to me like nematodes because it is pretty hard to get rid of them as you mention...
and again, as i said, i dont think they should hurt your roots, but if too many around i dont know...
in how many pots you got this problem and how old are the plants ?
 
U

urbanpoisen

New member
are you using a lot of compost tea. we are experiencing the same problem at work and associating it with the presence of to much fungus. it has greatly affected our quality and yield
 
Canniwhatsis

Canniwhatsis

High country cat herder
Veteran
Dun know man, I'm betting lay back on the watering a bit. Looked pretty wet in that vid, and root rot combined with even a small infection of bugs in the root zone can make all kind of weird shit happen.

I spotted the nematodes by naked eye as well, tho never got a good image under magnification, the ones I had were about 2mm long?

Also had an abundance of these 2 little buggers,....
picture.php


The one on the top/upper part of the pic is a predatory mite, the little silver fella is a spring tail.

Spring tails are beneficial decomposers, the mites are there to eat them, I had both these guys and nematodes something fierce till I figured out that my wife was watering the plants too.

Once I stopped over watering problems went away, and all the bug populations plummeted.

They're still there, just now they're in a healthier population.
 
inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
urbanpoisen said:
are you using a lot of compost tea. we are experiencing the same problem at work and associating it with the presence of to much fungus. it has greatly affected our quality and yield
Click to expand...

No I am not using compost Tea but i am intentionally adding Met52 which is a fungus used to battle Root aphids. Not only does the Met52 cause there to be fungus, but the met is grown on pieces of Rice and that also decomposes and causes a different fungus.

So today i went back into the Rabbit Hole and Found what i believe to be Soil Mites? You can view one of them here... Please share any info you can about these as well. Its a regular old jungle ecosystem in my coco. Surprised any of these things can live with the Triazicide-Met52-imidacloprid soup they were fed in veg.

http://youtu.be/me_xgIGzV_A

Still have not captured an image of the Root Aphids i know are eating my roots...but i will continue to search. I set a potato trap...
 
inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
rootcap said:
in how many pots you got this problem and how old are the plants ?
Click to expand...

I would guess they are in all the pots though i have only seen the "nematodes" in veg. The Soil mites i found in my flower. Plants are all between 1-2.5 months old. I think they are likely in all my pots considering the sheer numbers i found in one gallon pots...
 
R

rootcap

Member
inreplyavalon said:
I would guess they are in all the pots though i have only seen the "nematodes" in veg. The Soil mites i found in my flower. Plants are all between 1-2.5 months old. I think they are likely in all my pots considering the sheer numbers i found in one gallon pots...
Click to expand...


i guess you dont see the nematodes in flowring because the plants drinking more water and your soil is more balanced. if you'll dry your soil you sould get the nematodes in control but they will not disappear...

if you can, and this is why i asked how many plants you got, swith the soil to all of the plants. you'll have to clean your pots really good while cleaning the roots as well.
if you have no expirience with this be very careful not to damage the roots... do it one by one...
 
The Revolution

The Revolution

Active member
Veteran
Sorry I can't help with the critters. Thank you for the very impressive footage, and I hope you can get a solid diagnosis and solution for the worms.
I find all kinds of critters living in my compost, and I always wonder if theyre beneficial or harmful. I didn't realize there was magnified videos out there. I might just have to try to identify some of the bugs I'm so seeing.
Can I ask what you used to capture these videos?
 
inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
rootcap said:
i guess you dont see the nematodes in flowring because the plants drinking more water and your soil is more balanced. if you'll dry your soil you sould get the nematodes in control but they will not disappear...

if you can, and this is why i asked how many plants you got, swith the soil to all of the plants. you'll have to clean your pots really good while cleaning the roots as well.
if you have no expirience with this be very careful not to damage the roots... do it one by one...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I did not find any in flower because i did not look within the pot. I found the soil mites just by putting a slice of zucchini on the surface and then videoing the slice. All plants were sharing trays in the veg room not too long ago, so i think they likely all have worms. I don't have the heart to search for them. I put some fresh potato slices on and will see what they draw to them.


The Revolution its my pleasure to share. I captured these images using a USB microscope. They are 40$ or so and can be found at any computer type store. They are fun to play with, but you may not like what you find!!!!
 
Canniwhatsis

Canniwhatsis

High country cat herder
Veteran
You don't really need to dig deep, I found all my critters within the first 1/2" of the top of the soil.

The pic I posted was soil taken from flower, the plants were not showing any distress so I'm fairly certain that the bugs were not harming them.


Do you have any pics of your effected plants? Root aphids should be much easier to find than what your describing, so you may be chasing ghosts.
 
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