grubs in compost

[piegirl]

while digging out my bin, I kept turning up these very large - 1 1/2 inch x 1 inch wide, gray white grubs. As the little boy next door said - it has really big chompers! What are these? The upside is the boys(4 of them) next door thought the compost pile was a wonderful adventure and Alix ran in the house, came back with a plastic box and took 3 of them to science class. I flipped most them - the grubs, not the boys , out into the garden for the birds. I have never seen this kind of grub - just the little white lawn ones.

This was a really neat experience - minus the grubs. The boys thought that compost was so coool. Tried to keep it simple - b/c it really is! The four year old kept saying - I want worms, do you have any worms. They got to see the new pile begin as well as see and touch and smell the finished goods. Thanks - piegirl

[bryanccfshr]

It sounds like Soldier fly larvae. Thse are beneficial and are nice to have around as they are excellent decomposers of organic materials like worms they eat the material and thier excrement adds value to the compost. Are these similar?



http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg226.html

This powerpoint is extremely interesting.
http://www.esrla.com/brazil/frame.htm

[piegirl]

they look similar but mine seem to be much plumper. do the grubs eat plant roots - like tomatos, pepper, asparagus etc? I'll do a further search for soldier flies. Thanks - piegirl

[tuk50]

We have a lot of trouble with both June Bugs and Green June Bugs, these guys have grubs in my garden as large as my little finger. Next to green tomato worms these are my two worst enemies and the birds love me for picking them out for them. This is a picture of them at this site. http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...s/1008_02.html
8)

[bryanccfshr]

Those grubs die when I find them. but I have never seen a june beetle grub in my compost. I usually find them in areas of turf that I am digging up. They can go to the birds or the ants.
There are some grubs that look similar that belong to beneficial predacious beatles however. The ground beetle for example is a great slug hunter. http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg130.html

[tuk50]

The June Bug Grubs aren't in my compost either, but they love the Christmas tree mulch I put down everyyear in my walkways. I put plastic down then cover deeply with the mulch and the grubs go down to the plastic and in the winter when I pull up the plastic and till the mulch in there are dozens of the grubs in it. They don't seem to destroy the root crops, but if it is them, they chew small indentations in the side of turnips, carrots, daikons, sweetpotatoes, and the like. The hole is about 1/4 in deep and smaller than a dime, and usually only one on a root. I haven't seen any ground beetle here, and I haven't seen a slug since I left Oklahoma 40 years ago. There are however prarie dogs, lizards, horney toads, and Colorado River Toads and an occasional Gila Monster. Oh! Yeah! and the horrible Javalina herd that dug a 60ft row of sweetpotatoes last year in one night. 8)

[bryanccfshr]

Oh Yuck! Javelinas... Giant stinky Rats. You can eat them..if you can maintain your composure to clean them.

[coronabarb]

"...these guys have grubs in my garden as large as my little finger..."

ACK!!! Yes, they are humunguous (too many 'u's?) I hate them. If I flip them out of the soil, my dogs will eat them (EWWWH) They go by 'green fruit beetle' and 'green peach beetle' here. I can't think of any reason to keep the grubs alive, since the beetle will definitely eat tomatoes, along with any other fruit.

[tuk50]

I ate one javalina bbq'ed about 30years ago when I got my first one and haven't hunted them since or eaten any since. My sons both keep trying to convince me they taste good if you put enough chile's and garlic in the crock pot! I still am camp cook for them, but they have to cook their own javalina. 8)

[coronabarb]

"javalinas"

I'm glad I don't know what you guys are talking about!

[bryanccfshr]

You seem like a cook, Barb. Maybe you can solve this culinary delima.





Read this for information..The pictures don't fully convey the javalina encounter experience. You smell Javalina long before you see them. They are actually more like a Rhino or Hippo in the animal kingdom than anything else.
http://www.hunting-in-texas.com/javelina-info.htm

[coronabarb]

LOLOL!!! Bryan, I somehow missed the bottom of that post about pests and thought you guys were still talking about GRUBS!! As in, EATING them.

I don't have time at the moment for the link...will check it out tomorrow. Javalinas...look like small wild pigs.

[tuk50]

I actually read somewhere that they are closer to the sloth family than anything in northamerica, but like you said the smell precedes them whatever they are...and they do have a nasty disposition when cornered and very sharp and long tusks to back up their nasty disposition.. 8)

[creister]

If I remember right, they are not in the suidae (pig) family. I have never eaten one. They, along with feral hogs are very destructive. Most are shot on sight if you can. They are non-native game, at least the feral hogs are.

[maupin]

While I am trobled by the occasional grub, I would be ashamed to submit a picture to compare the the larger grub problems plaguing our friedn teh farmer stuck in his industrialized life.

And no--I have never had to get my shotgun and shoot a grub. I prefer it that way.