Great big maggottything!!

[hypnophil]

hi guys, can anyone tell me what what those big ugly white maggot like things are? i dug up 3 so far, they have a black head and are about an inch long but curled into itself, urgh!
Are they good or bad, i squished them but did think maybe i should'nt so i thought i would ask your advice. i have been using a friends garden this year for the first time and it has'nt been used for a few years, all advice appreciated!!

[dixeychick]

They sound to me like vine weevil larve & are really bad, they eat all the roots of plants (esp in pots) & usually the first you know is when the plant flops. Keep an eye out for more of the same & the adults (matt black beetles that are really hard to squash). When I find them I get really mad and stamp on them! Seriously tho, if you find them in a pot it's worth washing the pot and all the soil off the roots as there could be loads more eggs in there just waiting for the oppertunity to do even more damage.

Good luck!

[hypnophil]

Crikey!!
i feel bad now, iput in so much work clearing the space, the weeds were taller than me, ( 6ft) and i took out loads of junk, carpets, bed springs, glass, slates, roots etc... and now have visions of fighting these things, i have seen the adults too, i thought they were fleabeetle, like big fleas that jump.
i already had my frenchbeans and swedes demolished by slugs, the garden is shared so i am using half and the other half is as bad as mine was before, i was worried about snails and weeds but now worry what else is in there!!!!!!!!! is there anything i can do?

[dixeychick]

Hi, sorry I didn't want to make you feel bad and of course I might be wrong! The 2 main problems we have are slugs/snails and vine weevil, both can be controlled but it depends on whether you are organic or not as to your methods. I try to be but sometimes resort to chemicals when I'm desperate.

Vine weevil can be controlled by 'provado vine weevil killer' which can be bought in most garden centres/diy stores or you can buy nematodes by mail order which is the organic solution. These are little live bugs that you water into the soil & they eat the little blighters before they eat your plants! The only downside that I know of is that they are expensive and have to be used soon after purchase. However I have never lost a plant that was growing in the open ground to vine weevil - it's only if you have pots that they tend to be really troublesome so consentrate your efforts there.

With regard to the slug problem I have recently tried the 'Growing Success' organic slug pellets which seem to be working well so far although probably a bit early to tell. I still do regular slug patrols by torchlight but am hopeful so far.

Please don't worry too much - so many people wouldn't do it if it wasn't worth it!

[sewer rat]

Hypnophil
Could be leatherjackets or chafer grubs but if they are an inch long they are definitely NOT vine weevil grubs - unless they are a super mutated version.
Vine weevil grubs are a lot lot smaller and have brown heads.

[hypnophil]

hi dixeychick, thanks a lot for your advice, i have been using an organic pellet but cant remember the name, i think maybe i put my plants out too soon, maybe i should let them grow more?
thanks to Sewer rat too, i will look them up and see if they are what i have, if they are i will be asking advice to get rid!!!! blighters!!
thanks a lot guys i can sleep a bit easier now, lol

[rustylady]

Vine weevils are more of a problem in pots, and the larvae aren't as big as you described, phil. I would say they're leatherjackets. The birds love to eat them. They can be a problem in lawns and areas where the ground hasn't been disturbed, so sounds a bit like your plot. Regular cultivation should get rid of most of them.

[srodders]

If they're white and curled up they are chafer grubs, leather jackets are a browny colour (like leather). Dig them up and leave them on the surface for the birds.

[Protea]

Chafer grubs also have legs! good pictures here, and also a product that gets rid of them: http://www.greengardener.co.uk/chafer.htm
same site, plus pics of leatherjackets for comparison:http://www.greengardener.co.uk/leatherj.htm

[FoxHillGardener]

...and then there are stag beetle larvae (goodies) which look annoyingly like chafer grubs (baddies). This site is useful in telling the difference

http://maria.fremlin.de/stagbeetles/larva-guide/

It seems generally if they're in decaying wood or the compost heap and curl into a C-shape then they're stag beetle larvae.

The baddies run along dragging their back end behind and you only find them in the soil, where they eat roots.

And vine weevil larvae (also baddies) are much smaller and don't have legs

[moggssue]

Good grief, I thought I had chafers but now I'm not sure! We do get loads of stagbeetles in the mock orange bush - why are they goodies? What do they eat? Maybe this will help me identify them - when there aren't both species side by side I doubt I could tell!? Or am I being dim as usual?!

[FoxHillGardener]

I suppose they're not really goodies, as such - they don't eat slugs or anything useful like that! The grubs break down old wood, so contribute to the cycle of decay, renewal and whatnot. They are getting increasingly rare though; you can report sightings of them here

http://www.ptes.org/greatstaghunt/index.php

Some more pictures to try and tell the difference here

http://www.ptes.org/greatstaghunt/pdf/Larvae-ID.pdf

Seems the best way to tell which are which is where you find them - if they're in the soil squash them, if theyr'e in rotting wood, take a photo and send it to the stag hunt website!

[moggssue]

Thanks for the link FoxHillGardener - I reckon half of the sightings last year were in my garden! We had a real 'infestation' for a couple of days, they must have all hatched out together and then flew off. Since the lava I get are very curved and 'c' shaped and dont seem to move never mind run even though they have little legs I think they must be stag lava rather than chafers so I'll leave them alone. They're nowhere near my veg in any case so I think it's worth taking the chance, don't want to add to their decline. I had no idea they were so rare.