Can anyone ID these bugs on my onions?

[Mrs Jackson]

I thought they might be onion fly maggots, but they don't match the description or any pictures I've seen, they don't really look maggoty. They're about 1cm long, maybe 1/4-1/2mm wide, looked like they had tiny antennae or maybe pincers on their head, teeny tiny legs all along their body, and inside the segments of their bodies it looked like there were pinky/red patches. They didn't appear to be tunnelling into the bulbs (I peeled away the outside layer and couldn't see any tunnels), I think they were eating mouldy/rotting (?) bits on the outside of the onions. Only a couple of the onions I pulled had these, so they've not invaded the entire bed. Any ideas?



Mrs J

[Capsid]

If it has many legs all along its body then it can only be a millipede. From the size and number of them I'd say that have just hatched from a clump of eggs.

[Mrs Jackson]

Ooh, thanks for that! So I don't really need to worry too much about them then? We have loads of millipedes and centipedes on the plot but it never occurred to me it could be those, because they're a different colour. But I suppose if they've just hatched then that explains the pale colouration as their exoskeleton possibly wouldn't have hardened?

Mrs J

[zazen999]

Sorry, I don't know the name of the thing but the problem you have is onion white rot. It's that that has caused the onion to rot which in turn attracts things that eat the rot [not got my technical head on today, but you get the drift].

[Mrs Jackson]

Oh, well that's not good then. Is it definitely white rot? There's nothing on the roots at all and there are only a few onions like that, most of the bed is fine and the garlic and shallots are all ok. I thought it might just be from where they'd got too damp with all the rain we'd been having

Mrs J

[Two_Sheds]

Is it definitely white rot?

Yes, it looks like it. It's early on, if you'd left them in the soil they would have turned to mush

[Mrs Jackson]

Oh well, you win some you lose some I guess. My Mum's garden has onion white rot and they just don't grow properly in our garden, so I was really hoping for some good ones at the lottie. They've all bolted anyway (they were overwintering ones) so we're using them fresh, just hope it doesn't get the garlic and shallots!

Mrs J