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What are these grubs in my compost?

nemracnemrac Posts: 70
in Plants
I was just going to put some home made compost onto some beds this morning when I came across the usual mix of red worms, ants but also loads of these pale brown peanut sized grubs which I hadn’t seen before. Are they harmful to the plants in any way and if so what advice can you offer ? Thanks in advance.
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2021
    Can we see a better photo please?  They look creamy rather than brown ... do they have chestnut brown heads?  Have they any legs?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    edited June 2021
    They'll almost certainly be beetle grubs of some kind but difficult to say which without a close-up.  However, I believe the majority of beetles you find in a garden are beneficial.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • nemracnemrac Posts: 70
    Can’t see any legs. I’ve enlarged the previous photo so hopefully this might help. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I can't really gauge the size ... could they be ant cocoons?

    https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/fegen/june-drop-information.htm

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I don’t know what the white things are without looking closer, but cherish your red worms, they’re the ones that make your compost for you.
    people buy those! 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    I thought ant eggs as each one is being saved by 2 ants 
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    I'd turn that compost and give it a bit longer if I were you.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Ant eggs are not that big, each can pick up one, about the same size as themselves. 
    Are you sure it’s not something that hasn’t decomposed yet and the ants are eating it.
    something as big as a peanut? 
    Can you break one open and have a look? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • butterflysue16butterflysue16 Posts: 3
    Look like maggots to me
  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    Ant eggs can be that big though as a larvae cocoon
    https://elegantentomology.weebly.com/garden-ants.html
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