is this a cut worm

Pepper 3/5/2013, 4:23 pm

While removing the grass for my beds and during sifting my store bought (read nursery"compost"= crap) beds. I found many of these critters I need help identifying and how to eradicate these.
is this a cut worm P3033410

another shot same bug; I also wonder what the yellow "egg" looking thing is.
is this a cut worm P3033411

happycamper 3/5/2013, 4:52 pm

It doesn't look like a cutworm that I have ever seen, but it does look a little like a tomato hornworm larvae. Google "cutworm pictures" and "tomato hornworm larvae pictures". I would squish that egg, could be anything, even a slug egg.

pryz123 3/5/2013, 5:03 pm

It is a grub of some sort. They can be the larvae of many different insects like june bugs, japanese bettles and so on. I think its best to kill them.

Coelli 3/5/2013, 5:59 pm

Yup, whatever it is, you don't want it in your beds. I found a ton of these in my beds when I emptied them out this spring to rebuild them. They all went over the fence and down into the wash. Yuck. Razz

brainchasm 3/5/2013, 6:03 pm

mmm, chicken food...

Hardcoir 3/5/2013, 6:59 pm

That is a grub, and if you have robins in your yard, they will become fast friends with you if you place them in a plastic dish on top of an outdoor table or something.

I have been inundated with these a couple times in the past. As I was digging them out of an old garden bed, I began throwing them onto a brown-colored tarp. A fat robin came from a tree and began eating them. Eventually, it ate the grub a second after I tossed it on the tarp and stayed within a few feet of me waiting.

Cutworms are much smaller.

Tomato hornworms are green.

mollyhespra 3/5/2013, 9:43 pm

It's a grub. Some kind of beetle most likely.

Call me a softie, but I don't kill them just cuz they're in my way. If I knew for a fact that they were a "bad" critter like a Japanese Beetle grub then I'd have no mercy & the Robins would get a treat. BUT, they could be "good" bug grubs, who knows?

So when I'm gardening & I find some, I grab an empty bucket and throw them in with some dirt. When I'm done or have accumulated a few in the bucket, I go out back with a shovel & lift up a bit of sod & back in the ground they go. Why kill something if you don't have to?

Coelli 3/5/2013, 10:07 pm

mollyhespra wrote:Why kill something if you don't have to?

To my knowledge, no grub that looks like that is beneficial to anything but another animal as food. I have no remorse about chucking them into the wash - something down there will eat them, and the grubs won't eat my plants' roots. Smile

Pepper 3/6/2013, 1:26 am

The 'eggs' have not had anything but fluid in them,haven't seen any sign of life forming. Thanks for all y'all's response been busy trying to get beds ready for planting. 4 done 2 to go want to plant this weekend. Have not had time to do this months avatar yet pics are taken will post soon.

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