A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Mysterious Soil Bugs

Hi there,
Recently I planted my vege garden and all was going well. However, when I tried to find out why my tomato plant's leaves were curling I discovered a strange white bug in my soil. There were probably a hundred at the base of a dead lettuce, and I think the ate right through the stem. They don't seem to be affecting any other plants though, or as of yet. (I think the tomato just suffered from some harsh sun and wind). Does anyone know what they might be? And maybe how to get rid of them? I'll try get a photo soon, but they're very very small. Some only a millimeter, maybe three millimeters maximum.

If it helps at all, I recently watered at the base of my plants as it was near midday and they needed watering. When I did so, quite possibly hundreds of these things were surfaced by the water, but only at the base of four plants. They were three lettuces and a borage. Any help? It would be much appreciated! Thanks :wink:

Welcome VegeNZ. I haven't a clue as to what type of bugs you might have. The most common ones here in the soil around tomatoes would be cutworms. They can also attack other plants besides tomatoes.
Are you looking for organic measures? Chili powder sprinkled in the soil can help with many bugs as can cinnamon powder. A collar of newspaper or plastic around the trunk of the plant and half buried can help.
And again, Welcome from California. I love NZ. It is the only foreign country I have visited (North Is) besides quick dips into Mexico and Canada. Your own Agriculture department may have some more and better answers for you as to what you are dealing with. Good luck!

Hi Tina,
Thanks for the welcome and the help! I sure would prefer an organic option, I always thought my soil was quite good until these bugs came along. None the less, I'm hunting for options. I might try chilli and cinamon, it sounds good to me. After much searching on the internet, the closest possible bug I could find was the lettuce root aphid. Though this might explain the attack on my lettuces and the death of two them, I'm still not 100% convinced. However, they do look very similar. A website suggested mixing eco safe soap with water and applying it to the infected areas, as it's a bit of a bane to the root aphids and won't harm my soil. Does this sound ok to you? Maybe I'll try all three??

Also, I'm glad you love NZ, I've always loved living here. It's quite amazing how different the South Island is from the North, yet how similar. I think it was a good country for you to visit! I hope to travel to other countries too.

Yes, insecticidal soap is very helpful. Go for it!

Ok, thank you very much. I'll give it a try and hope it works, things I've read say root aphids are very persistant. I'll just have to be aswell! I'll let you know what happens as soon as I've tried.

Hi Tina, just updating you on my progress.
Today I used an eco friendly cleaner to spray the bugs I brought to the surface with water. I trialed it on a few I dug up first and it seemed to work, so I'm hoping it has an effect of some sort as I sprayed a lot of them! I'll do the same tomorrow and see if there's a difference in numbers. Wish me luck! (:

Awesome! i hope it works for you. And thank you very much for the updates.

Hi again Tina,
I think I've had some success! I can't be sure though. As the bugs are very small I heavily water areas to see if there are many of them. This brings them to the surface, but it's been raining a lot, and I don't want to over water my soil. None the less, what I've seen seems better! So today instead of spraying soap I mixed some eco friendly dishwashing liquid with water and sparingly covered the bases of my plants. Once the soil is drier I'll check again to see what progress I've made so far. Thanks for the help again!