centipedes or millipedes

[maxine]

I`m a new gardener and whilst digging i found orange millipedes or centipedes but i`m not sure which one, and are they bad for my soil?

[Lesley Jay]

Millipedes will eat the roots and also eat vegetables so try and dispose of any that you find. Welcome to the grapevine Maxine.

[nick the grief]

One is, one isn't. Centipede's eat bugs so they are goodies, Millipede's eat vegetable matter so not so goodies . If they are orange I'd guess at centipede's . Try Google you should be safe with that one (sorry Maxine , in joke - you'll have to look at the back posts to catchup with that one )

Welcome to the Vine Maxine.

[Sal]

Protect yourself Maxine - don't check ANYTHING on Google that Nick suggests without checking with a nearly responsible adult - i.e. the rest of us -first! Even if it does sound like a seemingly innocent variety of veg. typing 'big boy' into Google to look for a variety of tomato may bring up sites that, well, quite frankly would make me blush.

Seriously though, welcome to the Grapevine. Nick's not bad at all, just a little tomato saucy!!!

[Sal]

And on your question about cents/mills. The orange chappie you found was definately a centipede, just so you don't have to go go counting the legs He's a goodie as he only eats bugs - and the kind of bugs that are going to eat your crops - yay! The millepede on the other hand will eat your crops - boo!



I don't like to kill anything myself so I just re-locate the centipedes to the greenhouse where they will eat all of the bugs and stand less of a chance of being picked off by birds, etc. I move the millepedes to outside where they have to survive our 5pm crowd of starlings who go through our beds picking out anything that moves. Even this seems a bit cruel. Poor millepedes - no one loves them. If only they didn't eat our plants, actually.... nah, that's enough sympathy for the pesky blighters, leave 'em to become starling fud!

Other goodie insects:-
Drone or Hover fly - look a bit like a wasp/bee but are smaller and, well, hover. Although the rat tailed maggot (found in stagnent water) sounds disgusting it is actually the larvae of the Hover and Drone fly so don't kill this either
Ladybirds - eat as many aphids as they like and don't have to pay £19.99 for the privilege
Wasps - belive it or not these are actually good for your cabbages as they pick off caterpillers, they do eat your fruit and sting you though so weigh up the pros and cons
Dragonfly - again these are ravenous and eat lots of bugs and they are quite pretty too
Worms - break up your compost and airiate - can't spell - your soil
Snails - only joking folkes

Devils Coach Horse - again will eat all of your nasties


Rain Beetle - will eat its way through the nasties in your garden but be careful not to kill them, its a superstition in East Anglia that if you kill a rain beetle it will rain for 40 days and 40 nights - but then again we still marvel at the black magic that makes them there metal carriages the other folkes call 'carrrs' run without horses!

[Geordie]

Could the 'orange thing' not have been a wireworm....lots of legs but thinner and smaller than a millipede.

[Nicos]

OK ...now I dun gon n dun some research!!!!

I think you may well have discovered snake (or garden) centipedes. They are longer than the brown one Sal posted and much more slender. And, yes they are goodies.

described as:-
'living below soil level and often found when soil is dug. They have slender, yellowish-brown bodies ,(more orange I think!), up to 6cm long, adapted for moving through soil where they hunt for small insects. If disturbed they writhe in a snake-like manner.'
Thanks Pippa!

Oh dear...I've been killing them for years thinking they were wireworms!!! oops!

[maxine]

Thank you all for your help, glad they are good ones

[Sal]

Ooops should have said before. Of the two top photos I posted above the chappie on the left (ginger/orange one) is a centipede and the chappie on the right (dark brown/black one) is a milipede.

[Sal]

Not heard of wireworms , anyone got a photie/description?

[PeterUpton]

Millipedes and centipedes

I`m a new gardener and whilst digging i found orange millipedes or centipedes but i`m not sure which one, and are they bad for my soil?

There is an important difference between these two groups of arthropods. Centipedes are often golden brown/orange in colour (I'm in the UK and that is the norm here). They have a single pair of legs per body segment, a broad, flattish head and are armed with strong mandibles. They also move fast. They are friends to gardeners because they are carnivores feeding on many small pests such as wireworms, root-eating fly grubs, small slugs and snails and their eggs.

Millipedes are usually dark brown or black, slower moving, often curling and uncurling when they are disturbed, and have two pairs of legs per segment. They play an important role in eating decomposing leaf and other plant matter, but can also be a pest eating small seedlings, especially young peas and probably a variety of other seedlings. Most of the year they can be ignored as basically harmless, but may be considered a pest in spring when seeds are being sown and germinating. Hope this helps.

[mothhawk]

Hi, Peter, welcome to the vine.
I think after 9 years Maxine will have sorted out which is which