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Thin white worms in soil

sandra.johnsonigVExBGWsandra.johnsonigVExBGW Posts: 4
in Problem solving
I have found several thin white worms in the soil around my plants.  Can anyone tell me what they are please?  Are they root eating worms?  I have found weevils already unfortunately but those ones look different - pictures attached.  Identification would be much appreciated, thank you!
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  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    edited May 2022
    Difficult to tell from pics but I'd say chafer grubs. 
    Welcome to the forum 

























    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    @sandra.johnsonigVExBGW
    I had them last year in a bag of sowing compost. They are whitefly larvae, as far as I'm aware of. I collected them with a pair of tweezers.


    I ♥ my garden.

  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    Whitefly larvae are scales on plant foliage. Could they be sciarids? They look much to small to be chafers.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Without an idea of the scale, it's hard for anyone to make a good ID.
    What size are they @sandra.johnsonigVExBGW ?
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • sandra.johnsonigVExBGWsandra.johnsonigVExBGW Posts: 4
    Thanks for your comments. These white worms were the size of half a little finger nail's height.  Also they were very thin.  
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    Picture is not great but they could be wireworms.  Do they have orange heads?
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    @Redwing the picture is actually quite good. These worms are only up to 4mm long and not bigger than 1mm max. 

    I ♥ my garden.

  • sandra.johnsonigVExBGWsandra.johnsonigVExBGW Posts: 4
    Redwing said:
    Picture is not great but they could be wireworms.  Do they have orange heads?
    They were so tiny that it was hard to tell, I think they did have a head that was brown/orange.  I am going to google wireworms!  Thank you.
  • sandra.johnsonigVExBGWsandra.johnsonigVExBGW Posts: 4
    They were tiny, I would say about 5mm long x 1 mm wide.  Thanks
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    Wireworms are orange, about 2cms long. Quite solid bodies, hence the name.
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