View Full Version : Ice Cream Eating Worms/Grubs
bepah
07-03-2009, 06:45 PM
Take A look at the bottom of the corm I dug up from a failing IC.
The 2 photos are what we found inside of the eaten out corm....
They were considerably smaller thn the tip of my index finger.
Who knows what they are?
I hope someone better qualified answers but I believe this is a root knot nematode.
Lagniappe
07-03-2009, 09:04 PM
Looks like a small millipede to me. That being the case, they would be eating the decaying bits. I had thousands in my Maurelii corms that were cut. they hollowed the dead part (underneath) out, leaving the good stuff intact. They would be doing more good than harm...IMO
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16998&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16998&ppuser=766)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16997&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16997&ppuser=766)
My Millipedes look different from those, but I'm thinking that's their function.
bepah
07-04-2009, 08:36 AM
I hope someone better qualified answers but I believe this is a root knot nematode.
Thanks for your input. Nematodes are generally microscopic but I'll follow up on your suggestion.
Thanks again.
bepah
07-04-2009, 08:38 AM
Looks like a small millipede to me. That being the case, they would be eating the decaying bits. I had thousands in my Maurelii corms that were cut. they hollowed the dead part (underneath) out, leaving the good stuff intact. They would be doing more good than harm...IMO
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16998&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16998&ppuser=766)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16997&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=16997&ppuser=766)
My Millipedes look different from those, but I'm thinking that's their function.
If you're right, they were cleaning up on an otherwise dying banana, cause unknown.
I still am in the dark here.
Thanks for your help.
D_&_T
07-04-2009, 02:02 PM
Curios to as to what that is looks like what got our seedlings last summer. But ones I found were almost white and bored down thru leaves into corm.
lorax
07-04-2009, 02:06 PM
Looks like millipedes to me too - I'd let them alone, since they're actually helping you out.
bepah
07-04-2009, 03:22 PM
Looks like millipedes to me too - I'd let them alone, since they're actually helping you out.
I tend to agree.....but what rotted out the bottom of the corm? That is the question.
When I dug it up, all but one of the pups was completed severed (appartently by rot) and dead/dying, except one where the rot had not yet progressed, it has been potted and its progress witll be watched. Ther was another pup forming as well. The corm has been cleaned up of rot and potted to see if it will survive.
What coulkd ause rot in the bottom of an otherwise healthy looking mat? The decline was rapid, about 2 weeks.
I removed the whole thing from my others, as I have a flowering/fruiting one above that location about 10 feet. So far three hands, over 20 bananas....
island cassie
07-04-2009, 04:20 PM
Too much water could do it. I lost my plantain after a very wet winter - I had planted it too near the rain downpipe and it croaked.
bepah
07-04-2009, 06:59 PM
Too much water could do it. I lost my plantain after a very wet winter - I had planted it too near the rain downpipe and it croaked.
I suppose that its possible. The soild it was in was 1/2 sand 1/2 compost. It was on a hill that drains well.
When it was dug up, the soil was damp but not wet. The possibility of overwatering is always there, of course, and I have made increases to the area when we had 105+ days.....
Overwatering rot is right now thes best answer, but I am still looking for something definitive. Other plants have the same water but are higher on the slope.....
FWIW, I planted a palm in its place. I have 6 mature p-stems and about 10 pups higher up.....that really is wnough as these bad boays pup all of the time. I am digging them out and potting them every month.
ewitte
07-04-2009, 07:41 PM
IMO overwatering when its 105F would take a lot of work.
island cassie
07-04-2009, 10:15 PM
Good point about the 105f especially as it was planted in half sand, half compost on a well drained hill.
Bepah - what variety of palm did you plant in its place?
bepah
07-05-2009, 10:08 AM
Good point about the 105f especially as it was planted in half sand, half compost on a well drained hill.
Bepah - what variety of palm did you plant in its place?
Beccariophoenix alfredii. Madagascarian palm with some promise in NorCal. Loves heat, grows "rapidly", unknown as to how much cold it will tolerate, but reports of survivng 25F have been made. We generally do not get that cold, but we have cold dry winds in the winter that can be much more destructive.
bepah
07-05-2009, 10:10 AM
IMO overwatering when its 105F would take a lot of work.
I have a lot of water!:ha:
Actually, it got the same water as other bananas above it on the slope. I'm thinking that as the water flowed downhill, it got more than the others on percolation.
LilRaverBoi
07-05-2009, 04:22 PM
Yeah, they definitely look like generic millipedes. No worries, they only feed on dead/rotting organic material and do not actively feed on living plant tissues.
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