Root based insect ID

Rashmika · #1 (**permalink**) 21-03-2010, 08:49 PM

Hi folks.

My Jasmine looks to have bitten the dust over the winter. To cut a long story short, I decided to mov this plant (in the hop it may yet sitll live) as I had an Anthemis I desperately needed to bed in.

When I removed the Jasmine, I found the roots had a substantial number of white insects crawling about, maybe 1mm to 2mm long. They did not jump or move very quickly when disturbed... There was no evidence of any white waxy/powerdy substances on the roots.

To add, I had recently mulched the Jasmine with garden compost.

Are these criters Aphids? I've used this garden compost elsewhere too, so I am kinda concerned that I may have mulched all my Spring perennials with something nasty

Dogghound · #2 (**permalink**) 21-03-2010, 08:53 PM

Can you describe the actual insects? are they maggot like? beetle like? legs? antenna? shape?

Rashmika · #3 (**permalink**) 21-03-2010, 09:09 PM

Sorry, that would of helped!

They were about 1 to 2mm in length. All white bodies. I tihnk they were fairly segmented and had two antenae. They did look like maggots but as they were very small it is difficult to describe them.

I also think they had two or three pairs of legs.

I'll try and get a picture tomorrow.

Geoff F · #4 (**permalink**) 22-03-2010, 12:00 AM

A photo would help but initially, I fear the dreaded Vine Weevil.

If so you may find this link to the Gardening forum useful Vine weevil attack - advice needed

Rashmika · #5 (**permalink**) 22-03-2010, 12:50 PM

Hi Geoff. Thanks for the suggestion but they were not grubs. They were definitely an insect of some sort and were moving on very tiny legs! Plus they were all white, whereas the Vine Weevil grub has a non white coloured head.

Rash.

JRsbugs · #6 (**permalink**) 22-03-2010, 02:32 PM

My guess is springtails. Yesterday I found groups of white ones, with another species floating on the water beneath a pot I had brought inside from the greenhouse for winter and placed in a glazed pot.

I also had a group of the same springtails in another plantholder which is glass, again with water in the bottom from watering the plant and I had put the plant outside for the summer. They were 1 to 2mm long, some would be males or babies, without looking closely through a macro lens you would think they were some sort of debris.

I pot all my plants in a high leaf compost mixture, and some springtails live in leaf litter, these look blind.

Of course these are harmless, I tipped one lot back on top of the pot and put it in the greenhouse. The other lot I tipped in the edge of the pond, then thought better of it as they probably don't live on water like some so had to fish them out one at a time, I brushed them gently off onto a nearby sprouting plant.

I'll upload some pics!

Janet

JRsbugs · #7 (**permalink**) 22-03-2010, 02:49 PM

OK, here's my little springtails, I haven't yet attempted to ID them but doubt I could get a firm ID anyway.

Those on my finger are the ones I fished out of the pond after tipping them in, some had a more creamy end.

bugbotherer · #8 (**permalink**) 22-03-2010, 06:46 PM

Look like springtails to me

Rashmika · #9 (**permalink**) 22-03-2010, 07:18 PM

Thank you very much... that is what I saw.

I wonder if my garden compost isn't as good as I'd like to believe

I also wonder if I've spread Spingtails around all the plants I Spring mulched

However this website here:

http://www.paghat.com/springtails.html

...seems to indicate that they're a good thing. What do people here think?

JRsbugs · #10 (**permalink**) 22-03-2010, 10:27 PM

If you have a lot of (or any) springtails, that is a sure indication that you have a very healthy environment! They won't be found in poor conditions, and poor conditioins are not good for plants or other wildlife.

They are harmless, I love to find new ones. I am finding a lot of different species which is amazing, it wasn't long ago that I didn't even know they existed.