# What is this bug?



## baodai (Mar 28, 2013)

What is this bug? and how to kill them
Thanks,
BD


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## gonewild (Mar 28, 2013)

milpeade


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## The Orchid Boy (Mar 29, 2013)

Yep, millipede. Are they in your mix in pots or just crawling around your growing area?


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## baodai (Mar 29, 2013)

The Orchid Boy said:


> Yep, millipede. Are they in your mix in pots or just crawling around your growing area?



yes and they love to destroy my fir bar


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Mar 29, 2013)

They aren't all that bad, and can be hard to get rid of. Try a drench of Physan...I find that it is very irritating to worms, bugs, etc...that should chase them out. Or, you could just repot.


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## baodai (Mar 29, 2013)

Eric Muehlbauer said:


> They aren't all that bad, and can be hard to get rid of. Try a drench of Physan...I find that it is very irritating to worms, bugs, etc...that should chase them out. Or, you could just repot.


Hi Eric,

Too many pots to repot. I can see them from my clear pot specially on my clivia pot ... I just hate hate them ... I can deal with mealybug but not this one
BD


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## The Orchid Boy (Mar 29, 2013)

Try insecticide granules for houseplants. You sprinkle the granules over the pot and then water to disolve and disperse them.


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## Ozpaph (Mar 29, 2013)

Other than an annoyance do they harm the plants?
They will be hard to eliminate if the pots are in contact with the ground soil.


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 29, 2013)

millipedes dont harm the plants at all


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## bullsie (Mar 29, 2013)

Millipedes are natural recycling units. They help break down dead vegetation.


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## Ron-NY (Mar 29, 2013)

bullsie said:


> Millipedes are natural recycling units. They help break down dead vegetation.


 Including the bark medium


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## SlipperKing (Mar 29, 2013)

They're probably doing you a favor. Getting rid of the broken down bark and keeping your mix fresh!


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## gonewild (Mar 29, 2013)

Millipedes are not your friend.

Millipedes will damage plants. 

Their main diet is decaying plant tissue but they will chew holes in roots and other moist soft tissue. 

Not good to have.


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## gonewild (Mar 29, 2013)

SlipperKing said:


> They're probably doing you a favor. Getting rid of the broken down bark and keeping your mix fresh!



They break down bark and leave behind a fine sludge that plugs drainage and air space. This may be good in a garden soil but it is not good for potted plants.


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## NYEric (Mar 29, 2013)

I find millipedes are only a problem with wood and bark. Do they eat other insects?


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## gonewild (Mar 29, 2013)

NYEric said:


> I find millipedes are only a problem with wood and bark. Do they eat other insects?



No they don't eat insects. But there is a mutant form that goes out at night far from the pots in search of human tissue. No one knows what they do with the tissue, but it tickles.


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## NYEric (Mar 29, 2013)

Oh!? Is that what that was?


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## gonewild (Mar 29, 2013)

NYEric said:


> Oh!? Is that what that was?



As I said, no one knows!


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## Rick (Mar 29, 2013)

Diatamaceous earth powder is supposed to be effective on these guys. But they have to walk through it to get the "glass shards" into their pores.


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## Ozpaph (Mar 29, 2013)

gonewild said:


> No they don't eat insects. But there is a mutant form that goes out at night far from the pots in search of human tissue. No one knows what they do with the tissue, but it tickles.



ah, the fabled vampire milipedes


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 29, 2013)

I have millipedes in all my pots .. When I repotted ( hundreds of plants) last year all the roots were fine .. If your pots get to the point where sludge from millipede breakdown is causing problems then you have waited too long to repot and if you think you can get rid of them using anything your are wrong .. They always come back .. Wheter it's diatomaceous earth or insecticide


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## lepetitmartien (Mar 29, 2013)

If you have millipedes, your substrate is breaking down first. So the issue is your bark, not the millipedes that are doing their stuff.

And if you have centipedes, you have insects/snails/slugs to feed them.

The real issue is not the arthropods, but the general state of your pots insides. And killing them won't change a thing to this.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Mar 29, 2013)

I agree.....millipedes are only a problem, if that, when media already breaks down. I'd gladly trade millipedes for mealies any day! I have never seen damage to a healthy plant in healthy medium. They prefer rotting stuff...so if your medium is rotting, they will love it. They will explore, though...so as I said, try a physan/RD-20 drench...that is unpleasant enough to chase most of them out of the mix.


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## cnycharles (Mar 30, 2013)

I had some introduced when I tried using live woods moss taken from old logs; I ended up with some disease and these critters going all over the place. I thought that they had chewed some, but it could have been something else. (maybe I just assumed that they were because they were all over the place)


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## gonewild (Mar 30, 2013)

cnycharles said:


> I thought that they had chewed some, but it could have been something else. (maybe I just assumed that they were because they were all over the place)



They chewed.
They chew.
They will chew again.

They normally do not chew healthy plant tissue but when environmental conditions get to a certain point they will chew roots. If you have a high population and this condition occurs then you will realize they will damage plants.
I think they need a certain amount of moisture in the organic matter they eat and when potting media becomes dryer than root tissue the go after the roots. I have seen them climb a Phal flower stalk and nibble small buds... I have seen it at night in person so no doubt what made the damage...Their little mouth nibbling away on a bud. They are sneaky.


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## gonewild (Mar 30, 2013)

If you Google the subject you will see that almost everywhere they mention that they do damage plants. Here is one publication with the following statement...
_
"Millipedes will also feed on overripe fruit in contact with the soil such as strawberries, tomatoes, or melons that have developed cracks. A few will attack small roots and seedlings of bean, corn, or peas and may seriously damage tender growth on greenhouse and garden plants. They may crawl into cabbage heads, tunnel into potato tubers, beets, parsnips, or turnips. A few species of millipedes are carnivorous, eating insects, and thus should be
considered beneficial."_


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 30, 2013)

(there are ten thousand species of millipedes)..... when they are water stressed i would imagine they would go after sources that would take more energy for them to extract..but it wouldnt be beneficial for them to do this on a regular basis...and if you are drying out your plants(slippers) to the point where they need to eat your roots or shoots, then perhaps that's a good indication you need to water more ..bugs tell us a lot about how we interact with our environment..it's a relationship that needs to be fostered not changed with brute force methods


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## gonewild (Mar 30, 2013)

ehanes7612 said:


> and if you are drying out your plants(slippers) to the point where they need to eat your roots or shoots, then perhaps that's a good indication you need to water more



Or that the milipede population in your pots exceeds the normal food supply they need.



> ..it's a relationship that needs to be fostered not changed with brute force methods



I use brute force and smash everyone I see. :viking:


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 30, 2013)

gonewild said:


> Or that the milipede population in your pots exceeds the normal food supply they need.


true, and probably an indication of needing a repot




gonewild said:


> I use brute force and smash everyone I see. :viking:



well, we all have our talents


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## gonewild (Mar 30, 2013)

ehanes7612 said:


> true, and probably an indication of needing a repot
> 
> 
> > Yes, and without the dense population of milipedes the media would have lasted longer before needing a repot.


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## Rick (Mar 30, 2013)

I'm not thrilled about them either Lance. I crushem when I seeum too.

I hate slugs/snails worse though. I occasionally get these very large wood roaches too that I'm sure will put a big munch on a bud. But these guys are very fast and hard to get a good smack on them that actually disables them.

Fortunately they don't multiply nearly as fast as your basic indoor roaches, and seem to live in pairs. So I can usually take one out before it has much of a chance to breed, and take out its mate not too long after.


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## NYEric (Apr 1, 2013)




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