worm id please?

[manxlizzy]

I have forund some wormy creatures in my soil and am interested to know what they are and whether they are a threat to my veggies! Unfortunately my digital camera has died so I shall try and describe them as best I can....

They are no bigger than a cm in length and probably 1mm wide
White translucent in colour
Quite wiggly!
Nothing is planted in the plot yet, so I am wondering whether they are just baby earthworms or something as there are loads of them if you look hard enough!

Also last year when I harvested my potatoes, they had cracks in them (which I think was down to the low rainfall) but in the cracks another type of small worm had taken up residence.... this one was a bit larger (some up to 2cm long) but thin again, creamy white in colour with faint red/brown dots down the length of its body. Again, searched my gardening books and the net for an id but couldnt find anything.... now I have just pulled up the first of my carrots and they seem to be in the cracks of these aswell. Again I don't think they have caused the cracks as we have had yet another dry spell of weather...

I would be so grateful if anyone could help with these questions..... I will try and get a picture of them to upload.

Thanks

Manxlizzy

[manxlizzy]

update! I managed to get my camera to work (ish) sorry the picture is such bad quality....

This is a picture of the first worm I described



the grid is 5mm squares if that helps put it in scale

thanks again...

[Tiggrx]

The second type which you describe sounds like the Spotted Snake Millipede (Blaniulus guttulatus)

[Paul mabbott]

Can you see any legs on it? Sorry, the photo isn't that helpful but I can imagine some legs .... In which case we might be talking about millipedes/centipedes.
By and large, most things in the soil unless they are nematodes (very small, thin worms or beetle (and some other insect) larvae are not harmful - probably quite the opposite.
Can you have a look at these with a magnifying glass - doesn't need to be that strong - the presence of legs and the numbers of the legs are important ....

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by manxlizzy

Also last year when I harvested my potatoes, they had cracks in them (which I think was down to the low rainfall) but in the cracks another type of small worm had taken up residence.... this one was a bit larger (some up to 2cm long) but thin again, creamy white in colour with faint red/brown dots down the length of its body.

If this is soil associated with potatoes then eel worm of which there are two types, including a pale form - Globodera pallida may be what you photo shows - for comparison see 2131077 - white potato cyst nematode, Globodera pallida (Tylenchida: Heteroderidae) @ Insect Images look in the bottom right corner of the picture.

Although the larger creature you describe does sound more like it may be a millipede which certainly do exploit damage on tubers.

If you think it is eel worm make sure you rotate crops on a longish cycle.

CM

[manxlizzy]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

The second type which you describe sounds like the Spotted Snake Millipede (Blaniulus guttulatus)

thanks... had a look at a picture of the spotted snake millipede and that looks like the identity of my second mystery worm!

[manxlizzy]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

Can you see any legs on it? Sorry, the photo isn't that helpful but I can imagine some legs .... In which case we might be talking about millipedes/centipedes.
By and large, most things in the soil unless they are nematodes (very small, thin worms or beetle (and some other insect) larvae are not harmful - probably quite the opposite.
Can you have a look at these with a magnifying glass - doesn't need to be that strong - the presence of legs and the numbers of the legs are important ....

Hi... I can't see any legs, but I did notice that they appear to be eating the soil... you can see it moving along through their transparent bodies!!
I had originally thought eelworm, but everywhere I looked at the description for them, it said they were 0.5-1.5mm in length and these are definitely larger than that