[TheSpartacat]

Hi all,

I've been hunting high and low around the interweb to get an id on a bug that i was finding on my freshly dug potatoes. Thought i'd share as I'd not heard of them before...

My tatties were all covered in little white dots (which i am pretty sure are a phenomenon called 'swollen lenticels', caused by water logging in heavy soils.... my plot neighbour was kindly watering my potatoes for me throughout the drought... but SO WAS I!!! lol)

But when i was studying these little white dots i kept seeing a tiny white bug, like a very small centipede. Tiny tiny, maybe only 3 or 4 mm in length. And i found out his name, its called a Garden Symphylan.

Link to some info:
http://bugs.scribble.com/symphs.html

Has anyone else come across these?
My lotty hasn't been grown on in 20 yrs or more, heavily overgrown when i took it on.
But i DID put horse manure over my potatoes when i sowed them...

Should i panic? 

[aelf]

A new one to me! Something else to worry about

[Salmo]

Symphalids are common in our soils. They move up and down in the soil according to moisture level and temperature. They can be found up to a metre deep. Usually they feed on decaying organic matter but in dry Springs they sometimes bite root hairs to get moisture and kill germinating seedlings.