[ricky]

Hi all another nightmare of a year with the spuds , I have researched and these pests and definitely are millipedes little long black *'s with hundreds of legs ,u grew Kerr's pinks spuds they have ruined 80% of them and about 60% if my Arron victor blues I planted 25kgs of each lucky if I get 25 kgs back to eat , these millipedes have been in my bathroom and my porch the slightest bit of damp they appear , being from N.Ireland it's a wet place , so any ideas at all to get rid of these pests give up spuds completely and just grow my tomatoes ,I hate being beaten by such a small pest but this has been happening as past 5 years is it time to give up all the effort and expenses for nothing any suggestions would be greatly appreciated many thanks.

[Nobbie]

Are you sure they are the cause rather than a symptom of slug damage. I have terrible problems with the little black slugs munching through my spuds, but I rarely actually see one in the potato when lifted. I grow Desiree as a main crop as they are fairly resistant to slug damage. I grow Charlotte as a second early and they are fine if lifted before maturity, but if left they get massacred by slugs. This year I tried one application of Nemaslug in mid June and left them in the ground until a couple of weeks ago and they are in pretty decent shape with minimal slug damage. Will definitely use again next year.

[ricky]

Definitely millipedes I've had them put in a jar and shown alot of gardener's but no answers , I've had great big spuds ruined like today out of a dozen spuds ready to steam I ended up with 4 edible ones,it's a plague,I'm at my wit's end.

[New shoot]

I don’t know if they are millipede proof, but there are slug resistant varieties of potato as Nobbie says. The skins are tougher and that tends to deter them.

Kestrel is always pretty good for me as a second early and then Sarpo Mira as a main.  The Sarpo Mira are a floury potato best suited to steaming or baking.  Kestrel more of an all rounder.

[Blewit]

I'd say try growing a tougher spud too. Sarpo Kifli work well for us, very firm when growing and taste similar to Charlotte.

[ricky]

Thanks guys , would there be any spray or anything I could put in along with the seed potato to keep these millipedes away like ash from the fire, or a spray like napalm to obliterate everyone of them

[R0b1et]

Millipedes simply can't initiate the damage, they will be a secondary pest, something else is the primary, as Nobbie said before. Millipedes generally are into decaying wood, so might be a case of having less about to reduce the millipede number, but seems you need to deal with slugs first.

[ricky]

Rob I can assure you it's millipedes from the very first small hole to the very depths of the spud ,I have lifted spud at every stage , after nearly 50 year's of gardening I know what the cause is .

[R0b1et]

Are you an RHS member?  If so,  try gardening advice there. But my wife would be one of the likely respondents and would be quite certain the millipedes are not the first to the potato, I still suspect slugs,  cod be just rotting, they are only interested in rotting organic material.

[New shoot]

The RHS also advise that woodlice have very soft mouthparts and can’t initiate damage either R0b1et, but I know from experience they can launch a pretty effective attack on all sorts of fruit and veg.  I have a bio-live terrarium with them in and feed them supplementary foods like that.  They ignore soft greenery and go for the carrot and beetroot.

It might be that numbers have built up and given the opportunity of a soft skin spud, they are more than happy to dig in as competition for food means there is not so much around.  Harder skinned varieties might help as some forum members have advised.  I have also used wood fire ash around spuds and it keeps slugs away, but can cause potato scab on the skins of susceptible varieties.  I’ve no idea if it works on millipedes though.

[R0b1et]

May sound like I'm being harsh, but if you have genuine proof, they would be very interested to see it. More importantly, you should publish it in peer reviewed science as it would be an important scientific discovery.

[Aunt Sally]

I have locked this topic as it is going nowhere.

R0b1et, I suggest that you should have a good look around our forums and take note that we treat each other with kindness and friendly help. Not hostile put downs.

You might be interested in this link:
 http://ephytia.inra.fr/en/C/20953/Potato-Blaniulus-guttulatus-Millipedes

You might also like to check the spelling of your home location.

[John]

I'm sorry to post in a closed topic but I just came across it. Millepedes have been known to be a pest since April 1945 when this was published in the Dig for Victory guide:

The friendly centipede moves very quickly, while the millepede––a nasty sort of chap––moves slowly, though he has got two pairs of legs to every section, as against the centipede’s one. You cannot go far wrong if you kill the slow-movers and let the fast movers live. Anyhow, it’s death to the millepede that attacks the roots of most of your plants!

The image is from the same piece