larvae eating cuttings

Joined : 16 May 2008 Posts : 128 Location : Canberra

HI folks,

With the thoughts of Cactoblastis
larvae fresh in my mind from another thread I was inspecting my plants
when I noticed one of my random Trichocereus cuttings had, what looked like
your standard rot at its base. I wasn't really surprised as I have
been watering long into winter with no problems - I’m still getting
daytime temps into the mid thirties and everything dries out pretty quick - anyway
with further inspection I noticed a little black grub (not actually that
little) the following pic is showing 7 of these little critters
that were feeding on what was a 2 x 3 inch cutting given to me a while
ago.

Anyone have any ideas what they are? This
cutting was sitting in a smallish pot in my greenhouse - do you
think there might be more grubs in other pots?

The good of this story is I saved a little pup Smile

Subject: Re: larvae eating cuttings Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:56 pm

They are curl grubs. The eggs were probably in the potting mix. They can hatch in there especially if the mix is old or recycled etc. They are the larvae of some larger bettle. They eat the roots. I had them in one pot once and I could actually hear them moving around in the pot when their numbers grew. All I did was empty the pot out and squashed all the grubs. The I threw the mix away.

Usually they are pretty isolated to one pot or a few pots, but if you are worried it might be best to check a few of the other pots in the collection. One evidience of them being in the pot is small piles of mix coming out from the holes in the bottom of the pot.

I have never had them again. Don't think they are a major pest, but annoying if you have them.
_________________
mmm spikey...

Joined : 16 May 2008 Posts : 128 Location : Canberra

Thanks

that sounds good. I thought I recognised them from somewhere - when I moved into this house the garden was full of them.

Joined : 07 May 2008 Posts : 341 Location : Melbourne

curl grubs are a common problem in lawn, eating the roots of the grass. i had no idea they could attack cacti.

Joined : 26 Apr 2008 Posts : 119 Location : brisbane

they look liked rhino beetle larvae to me which eat rotting wood, wouldnt suprise me if they would eat a rotting cacti aswell