Help white little worms

Discussion in 'HortForum' started by gsmith462, Feb 11, 2012.

  1. gsmith462

    gsmith462 Member

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    Hello all!

    I am trying to figure out what pest I am dealing with. My situation is the same as the OP in this thread and I was able to take a couple pictures that are not the clearest but a little better than what the OP posted. I only have these worms in my lemon tree soil and none of my pepper plants in the same area have them. I have had to re-pot my lemon tree at least 3 times over the past year and a half because of these worms and each time I do a FULL re-pot, I wash the roots of all remaining soil by soaking them in water. Each time I use brand new sterile soil except the last time I had none on hand so I baked the soil in the oven @ 220 degrees F for 45 minutes so it should have been sterile.

    I fertilize my lemon with miracid about every other watering and every 30 days it also is given Espoma Citrus Tone. I think that the worms are attracted to the citrus tone because I usually find the largest clusters of them around the light brown clumps of it and because of this my lemon tree is constantly showing signs of deficiency and I assume it's because these worms are eating the plant food before my lemon can absorb it. The longer it goes before a re-pot the population of the worms grows. I took a sample of these guys into a local nursery and everyone that worked there was stumped. I talked to my local county horticulturist on the phone about 2 months ago and from my description she came to the conclusion that they are fungus gnat larvae but I rarely, if ever see fungus gnats flying around.

    I re-potted after talking to the horticulturist and cut back on watering even more than before to the point that the moisture meter reads close to "dry" when I water again and still no signs of adult gnats flying around. I was worm free for about a month and low and behold they are back again which is always how it works out. Upon gathering the latest sample to take the pictures of I noticed that when I removed them from the soil and all other moisture they seem to die within a few minutes almost like an earthworm dies if it cannot get to moisture on a hot day after a little while. I have looked all over the internet for similar instances and this thread described my situation to a "T" so I hope someone here can identify what these pests are. Thanks for your time and now I present the pictures I have taken!

    Oh I almost forgot, these "white" worms are actually translucent but appear to be whitish colored in the dark soil and you can see what looks like dirt on the inside of them which I think is maybe their waste?
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 12, 2012
  2. Barbara Lloyd

    Barbara Lloyd Well-Known Member

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  3. Junglekeeper

    Junglekeeper Esteemed Contributor 10 Years

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  4. gsmith462

    gsmith462 Member

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    Thanks for the responses but I don't think that either of them are what I am dealing with. They don't seem to get much larger than the one in the photos I posted and the horsehair worms are described at an inch and even longer and they never resemble an earthworm quite like the enchytraeids.

    Since my last re-pot the tree has not been outdoors and these worms just keep coming back. I even contacted Espoma to see if the food I am feeding the tree produces any sort of "beneficial" critters and they assured me that their product would not produce worm like insects or larvae, which I figured. I am just stumped here. I keep the environment VERY clean and for some reason these worms keep on coming back. I am about to the point of disposing of the tree altogether because I have made several trips to the nursery buying supplies and asking advice and each time I leave with false hope that "this time" Ill get em.

    Like I said in my original post, the last re-pot stripped all soil from the tree's roots. The root ball was very small and scraggly and I was really able to get rid of all the bad soil before re-potting so I have no clue how they are back so soon and especially when the 3 other plants right next to it don't have this problem at all.
     
  5. saltcedar

    saltcedar Rising Contributor 10 Years

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  6. gsmith462

    gsmith462 Member

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    Good information. After reading about fungus gnats in the link you posted I would think that was my issue. I rarely ever see any form of fly on or around my plants. Being winter time right now my pepper plants and lemon tree are under a T5 grow fixture in a room that I am in often. I also spend a lot of time doing stuff with the plants on a daily basis (ie misting them, cleaning around them and checking moisture levels) so I would know if I had a fly issue. And for as many of these worms I can see as I dig around in the soil I would have to believe that I would see at least a few adult gnats on a daily basis.
     
  7. cagreene

    cagreene Active Member

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    i am not the least bit surprised to hear your pepper plants are not also infested. there is a product on the market called hot pepper max. ( i had to go to a hydroponic shop to find it) i used it on the fungus gnats my husband brought home from the grocery store a few years back.it works well, but needs to be re-applied every 3 days for a week to be effective. but if you are like me, and look for more natural ways to keep plants healthy, here are two. 1) wash roots clean of all traces of soil, soak roots in 1 drop sunlight, 4l water. bake soil at 450 degrees, for 4 hrs min, this will kill eggs and bugs. 2) put an osolating fan on plants for 2 week min. as fungus gnats can't fly, then they cant reproduce, they will either die off, or go else where. there is a third way to kill anything that creeps or crawls, but you need a co2 bleeder system, by turning up the ppm,( parts per million) the co2 will explode the eggs and bugs into oblivion, in about 20 minutes. i dont recommend being in the room while co2 is on!! co2 pucks can also be purchased at hydro shops. put plant inside of lg Tupperware container with pucks, about 5 to insure good ppm coverage. good luck
     

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