Tiny pale white worms. Thousands of them, ranging from 1mm to 8mm long, thin as a hair. No flies around, no sign of dark heads on these little worms. Saw some in my coco last week, thought my roots were moving, lol. Did some searching on here and found nothing certain, but that they might be a natural occurance in soil/coco and they do no harm. I watered my plants yesterday, and one is ready for a repot so I left it sat in some water overnight. I just moved it, and as the pot it was in is clear I can see hundreds of these little guys swimming in the water. Can anyone tell me what these are? Are they harmful or not?
Did you add any organic matter to your medium..? There are white (Enchytraeus albidus) worms that help break down organic matter and are harmless... Can you get a good picture and upload....
I fed with organic nutes (biobizz) to start with before changing to formulex. They do look like the white worms you mention. Whiteworms ~ Enchytraeus albidus but there are none that are any bigger than the dimensions I mentioned. Certainly not 1mm thick as wikipedia says. I don't think my camera would show them, but they look like the ones in that link, but that top pic must be magnified. Weird!
Post number five in this link shows what I have - Bio-bizz contains tiny white worm things , right ? - UK420 And it would seem to be normal (for soil anyway!). Phew
Never had this in my soil but, if Enchytraeus albidus are harmless and are breaking down organic matter in the soil. I would imagine when the organic matter is broken down they will die out and disappear. It's not uncommon to find bugs etc in organic soil, ewc etc. Most are the good kind breaking matter down and excreting their poo as fertilizer. The big question...How do your plants look ?...That will tell if their harmful.... Even though their spooky looking their probably doing good as long as your feeding organic food.... Edit: These worms like a wet, moist environment so you could probably rid some of them by letting the soil dry more between watering and removing what you can by hand....
Yeah I considered that, but I guess parts of the plant will die, giving them something to eat. Not sure however! The plants are looking OK I think - only repotted them recently so will wait a few days and see what happens. I let my coco get fairly dry, don't want to let it dry fully really. Removing them by hand would be impossible - they are just too small!
Hello everyone, This thread is old, but I do have the same problem and I do have some pictures of the problem.
Hard to tell from the pics but they look like springtails. If they are they are usually white although I believe they can vary in colour sometimes. Should have little antennas and they fling when you agitate them. They are totally harmless. They just break down decaying organic matter. They like moist environments so dry out the soil a bit if you can and that should help. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Correct, they do like moist environments. I have been letting the smart pot sitting in the water to drink the nutes. After 6 weeks, I decided to flash the coco to bring the PH down from 6.7 (runoff) to normal. Used 20 gal of low PHd and saw the worms coming out on the surface of clean water from the bottom of the pot, but, the most amount of warms came out on the surface from one of my BEST looking/drinking/growing girl. It seems, the worms are not really harming the plant. I have been using Xtreme tea for the last 10 weeks from veg to bloom, also using Advanced Nutes.
from another forum "I'm fairly sure its pot worms ......the only other thing is compost worm young ....unlikely but I thought I could see the start of the saddle (clitelum) which some time' show early on the young .. Pot worms, or potworms, are small white creatures commonly found in soil. They can develop into massive populations, especially in compost piles or in earthworm farms. They’re scientifically known as enchytraeids (enn-kee-TRAY-ids) and are segmented relatives of the earthworm. This group also includes ice worms. Pot worms are in the Order Oligochaeta and Phylum Annelida. Their common name comes from the fact they inhabit the soil in container plants. In fact, many expert gardeners believe the soil is not “normal” without the presence of pot worms. For those who maintain earthworm farms, there is some unnecessary worry that overpopulation will choke out their investment. That is typically not the case as pot worms and a host of other creatures, including those that cannot be seen except under a magnifying glass or microscope, reside peaceably with earthworms, and often in greater numbers. A majority of worm farmers have reported no reduction in the health of their farmed worms when this species is present. When a pot worm invasion occurs, they can number as many as 250,000 in a ten-square-foot area. Their quarter-inch long bodies are visible to the naked eye and are sometimes mistaken for the larvae of other worm species. These are adults, however, and can literally appear to be in the millions by comparison to a typical earthworm bed. Pot worms feed on the same type of litter as earthworms. They are efficient at aerating soil and breaking down just about any organic materials. This species prefers an acid environment that is moist. If too dry, they will die. Even though pot worms are attracted to soils that are higher in acid, that does not mean the dirt needs amending. The easiest way to reduce pot worm populations is with bread and milk. They will flock to a piece of soaked bread and can be lifted out and destroyed in large batches. Just as pot worms won’t harm other living worm species, they do no damage to living plants either. Their diet is strictly bacteria and fungus, which are digestible, and organic matter, which their systems cannot process. They are also known to prey on nematodes. Pot worms are also popular as fish food and sometimes raised just for that purpose. Some simply refer to them as “white” worms as they resemble tiny white threads residing in water and on land."