[adriancole]

Thanks, Lime it is, then cross figures. Hope my garlic does better!

[Tinbasher]

ok, here's some more photos.

I think I have the Chafer grub in other parts of the garden , they are much bigger than these little things. They look smaller than normal maggots - the kind people use for fishing are the only ones I've seen before. The stub you can see is whats left of my cauliflower. I said Broccoli earlier, going crazy I am !

Yep, I've had those this year, but only in strawberries and those in pots on a patio.  Lord knows how they got up there but didn't infest the garden.  You are right in saying that all the foliage died back and on further investigation there were virtually no roots.  In fact 2 or 3 plants had managed to be blown out of the pots by the wind, there being nothing left to hold them in the soil.


So what are they again?  Mine were creamy white and smaller than a typical fishing maggot but otherwise looked the same.

[muntjac]

cabbage fly maggots  

[Tinbasher]

cabbage fly maggots  

Hmm, but I never grew any brassicas this year, neither on the patio nor in the garden.  Having said that the strawberries were 2 years old, so could they have gotten infested the previous year?  Still, nowt else was affected.  I emptied the pots, about 20 of them, sifted thru them as best as I could and removed a good number of maggots, say 3 or 4 per pot though not all pots were affected, removed any strawberry remnants and soil-ball on any roots, and chucked the remaining compost in the pots into the compost bin.  Have I done wrong?

Summat else too.  The maggots didn't taste like Cabbages.  Or strawberries for that matter.

[muntjac]

you have now you have put them in your compost for next year .. id dump the compost if i was you .or cover it completly in black tarp add water n urine n try n cook em to death

[adriancole]

I dug over a fresh patch of my garden today to prepare for next year. I have pretty light soil and its a lovely dark organic colour so I'm hoping it will be a fertile area.

I did however find 10 of these little critters in a 2m squared area that was previously all grass and a few small weeds.

They look like chafer grubs to me so if my lawn is covered in these, how hard is it going to be to grow veggies? Everything I read says I need to use nematodes next summer. Does anyone have any other advice or know what they will chew on? (or not?)

Could they have chewed my blackberry?

[muntjac]

definatly chafer .you need chemical control for that many in a lump

[Tinbasher]

you have now you have put them in your compost for next year .. id dump the compost if i was you .or cover it completly in black tarp add water n urine n try n cook em to death

Oh no.  That's what becomes of not wanting to throw things away even old potting compost and such.  Will there be eggs in it?  There's definitely no more than one or two grubs, if that.  And maggots can't reproduce can they?  They have to turn into flies and meet other flies.

It does get warm though in the pile, hot maybe in summer, ie last year.  I do spend a few pennies there anyway usually.

[muntjac]

just cook em off and you should be fine the hotter a compost heap gets the quikers its compost  

[Tinbasher]

just cook em off and you should be fine the hotter a compost heap gets the quikers its compost  

Oh yes, I'm onto that.  I've got a length of aluminium tubing, scaffold pole size, and as a test stuff it in the middle of the pile and leave 10 mins.  When it comes out, it's too hot to hold at the business end if all is going well.

I built the triple bin today on the new site.  Well, all except the doors and the lids.  Didn't buy a scrap of timber after all.  A few lengths (4 or 5 footers) of sightscreen planks from a cricket ground - snapped and were being replaced, and have cadged three 8 x 4 pallets from the local building site next door to our lotties.  Split the pallets up and used the planking to build solid bays.  Get them warm, keep them warm. Built it off the boundary fence, on our side, just cadging a fixing off the 4 x 4 uprights.  That and a few bits of 4 x 4 for the front posts and we're in business.  Managed a 4 ft cubed leaf-mold bin too.  Be full tomorrow if I have my way.

I used the oil and white spirit recipe too.  Good stuff.  I knew I had some oil at work in a green placcy petrol can.  Found it and don't know what grade it is, (someone gave it me) so I won't trust it in a machine or vehicle and used that for the job.  Brand new oil, looks like good 20/50 and has given the timbers a lovely amber colour.

[muntjac]

just cook em off and you should be fine the hotter a compost heap gets the quikers its compost  

Oh yes, I'm onto that.  I've got a length of aluminium tubing, scaffold pole size, and as a test stuff it in the middle of the pile and leave 10 mins.  When it comes out, it's too hot to hold at the business end if all is going well.

I built the triple bin today on the new site.  Well, all except the doors and the lids.  Didn't buy a scrap of timber after all.  A few lengths (4 or 5 footers) of sightscreen planks from a cricket ground - snapped and were being replaced, and have cadged three 8 x 4 pallets from the local building site next door to our lotties.  Split the pallets up and used the planking to build solid bays.  Get them warm, keep them warm. Built it off the boundary fence, on our side, just cadging a fixing off the 4 x 4 uprights.  That and a few bits of 4 x 4 for the front posts and we're in business.  Managed a 4 ft cubed leaf-mold bin too.  Be full tomorrow if I have my way.

I used the oil and white spirit recipe too.  Good stuff.  I knew I had some oil at work in a green placcy petrol can.  Found it and don't know what grade it is, (someone gave it me) so I won't trust it in a machine or vehicle and used that for the job.  Brand new oil, looks like good 20/50 and has given the timbers a lovely amber colour.

 werks for me