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Posted in Garden Worms Grub Worms Worms Generally

Plump White Worm in Compost Pile is a Rose Chafer Grub

“I found several of these in my Tucson, AZ compost pile and in my raised bed garden”, writes Dave about the white, worm-like creature pictured below. “Stretched out, it’s a plump two-inches long. It has translucent, grey-white skin (curiously dirt doesn’t stick to the skin) and a dark inner mass at the tail end. It looks similar to the wood boring beetle larvae posted earlier. My question is, should I worry about this critter eating my plants or destroying their roots. Thanks for maintaining your site.” Well, firstly, we want to thank David for submitting to our site! It is because we get submissions like these that we are able to keep it running. Secondly, we want to thank him for the absolutely excellent photo he sent in.

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Posted in Caterpillars Garden Worms Tomato Worm

The Green Tomato Worm and its Distribution

“Can you tell me if Green Tomato worms can be found around Oklahoma?” asks this reader in her submission. She does not attach any photos, though she notes that she lives in Washington County. “I would like to know if they do, so when I start my garden I can be prepared for them.” First off, we assume that by ‘green tomato worm’, our reader is referring to the tomato hornworm. If that is the case, it might be ample to provide some context. The tomato hornworm is a moth caterpillar which is indeed green in color, and which does feed on tomatoes, among other plants.

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Posted in Earthworms Garden Worms Segmented Worms Annelida

Excessive Earthworm Populations and How to Control Them

We got an interesting question from a man asking about earthworm populations in relation to the migration of Woodcock, a species of bird that commonly feeds on earthworms. “How do I tell whether a site will produce an over abundance of worms?”

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Posted in Flatworm Garden Worms Worms Facts

Thin Black Worms Appearing on Dirt May Be New Guinea Flatworms

“Small, thin, black worms” of approximately 1-2-inches have been showing up in our reader’s backyard. This is a new occurrence for our reader, as it has only been happening for the past “couple of months”, and our reader wonders if they are “good worms or bad worms.”

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Posted in Cabbage Worm Caterpillars Garden Worms

Bright Green Worm-like Creature is a Cabbage Looper Caterpillar

“What is this?” is all this reader asks about the bright green creature in the photo below. From what we can make out, the creature has multiple appendages along its body, which could either be legs or bristles, and may be segmented.

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Posted in Composting Worms Earthworms Segmented Worms Annelida

Dead Earthworms in a Compost Pile: Is It Useful and What Does it Mean?

“Is there any use for dead earthworms? Can they be used in a compost pile?” asks this man in his submission to us. No further context is given, and no pictures are attached, but we will do our best to unpack and answer this question.

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Posted in Earthworms Garden Worms Segmented Worms Annelida

Pink Worm in Toilet is an Earthworm

“I have seen the worm in the picture in our toilet bowl on two separate occasions,” states this reader about the pink worm we can see in the picture our reader is referring to. At first, our reader attributed the discovery of the worm to flushing his cat’s excrement down the toilet, but now only he has been using the toilet, and he is curious as to where it might be coming from.

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Posted in Earthworms Garden Worms Segmented Worms Annelida

Brownish-Pink Worm Speculated to Correlate With This Man’s Weight Loss

“As my husband has been losing a bit of weight, he was wondering if [this worm] was something other than an earthworm!” writes this reader to us about the creature photographed below. In the photo, we see a long, thin, pinkish-brown worm lying on what looks to be a piece of toilet paper.

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Posted in Centipedes and Millipedes Earthworms Garden Worms

Wriggly Brown Worms May Be Millipedes or Earthworms

“What is a small brown worm with antennae and definitely no legs?” asks this reader in his query to us. Although he sends no photographs with his submission, he describes the worm as being approximately one-and-a-half inches long and “very skinny.”

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Posted in Flatworm Garden Worms Hammerhead Worm

Long Black Worm Found Wrapped Around the Leg of a Dog is a Hammerhead Flatworm

“My neighbor found this worm attached to her dog, wrapped around its leg,” says this reader about the creature displayed below. The worm is very long, black in color (with a gray underside), and appears to be a flattened, rather than tubular, shape.

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Posted in Garden Worms Grub Worms Worms Generally

Worm Found on Puppy’s Paw is a Beetle Larva/Grub

“Can you help me identify this worm found on my puppy’s paw after going outside?” this reader asks of this white, larva-looking critter crawling around on the floor in a video she sent in with her query. Her puppy recently had a tapeworm and so our reader is understandably “freaking out”.

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Posted in Centipedes and Millipedes Earthworms Garden Worms

Worms Crawling on to Cement to Avoid Moisture May Be Earthworms or May Not – Here’s How to Get More Accurate Worm Identification

Worms found on this reader’s concrete are disturbing her as they “come to get away from water” and “dry up”. She says she cannot “get them off” and asks what she should use to fix this problem.

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Posted in Garden Worms Pest Worms Worms Generally

Colorado Potato Beetle Larvae and What To Do About Them

The Colorado potato beetle is a common garden pest that many have to deal with. This article will outline the biology and behavior of potato beetle larvae and give some insight into how to deal with infestations of this pest.

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Posted in Garden Worms Inch Worms Worms Generally

A Brief Guide to Inchworms

Inchworms are arguably the first thing that come to mind when we think of caterpillars; that curving arch that these critters make as they ‘inch’ their way across a surface is, dare we say, iconic. This article will take a brief look at inchworms: their characteristics, behaviors and place in the natural world.

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Posted in Composting Worms Garden Worms Grub Worms

White Larvae in Virginia Garden Composting Worms or Pests?

Worms of approximately 1/2-inch long were found in a large mass in the moist mulch of this reader’s garden in Earlyville, Virginia. The worms in question are a clear white color, with dark markings along their bodies, and a bulbous brown mass on either end of their bodies.

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Posted in Caterpillars Garden Worms

Clusters of Worms Found in Garden Under Stones

Today we will discuss some worm-like organisms that a reader discovered under stones in her garden. She wrote that she keeps finding large clusters of them and is curious about what they are.

tiny white worm in soil
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Posted in Interesting Worms

What is this White Worm-like Creature Found in the Garden?

One of our readers contacted us about a white worm-like creature that they found in their garden. She and her husband were planting their annuals and found an 8 to 9 inch white worm-like creature. She is not sure if it had eyes or a mouth, but she said it was about the same diameter as a yellow pencil. They were unsure if this is a worm or a snake, but she said when her husband picked it up, it wriggled quite a lot. They saw it burrow into the dirt as well. Because we do not have very much information about this creature, we are unable to make a solid identification of this worm-like creature.

red pink worm in germany
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Posted in Interesting Worms

Red, Pink Worm in Garden in Germany

A red worm was found by a reader in Northern Germany – or perhaps we should say ein roter Wurm wurde von einem Leser in Norddeutschland gefunden – and he wrote to us to see if we might be able to identify it. The worm was found in a garden, where it was mostly underground, and it is not exactly red. Its overall body is more like a pinkish color, but the bottom of the worm’s body is almost white. More precisely, the color of the worm fades as you move down its body – the top is a red or dark pink color, the middle is a light pink, and then the bottom is almost entirely white. What might our reader have found?

one-inch white worm in garden
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Posted in Garden Worms

One-Inch White Worm or Larvae in Garden

We recently received a question through the All About Worms Facebook page about a white worm in the top soil of a reader’s garden. The white worm (or potentially white larva) is about an inch long (2.5 centimeters) and is fairly skinny. The reader was only looking for an identification, so we’ve concentrated our efforts on this matter. What could a one-inch white worm or larva in the garden be?

earthworm in dirt
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Posted in Garden Worms

How to Get Rid of One Inch Brown Worms in Mulch

We received this somewhat vague and difficult to decipher question a few day ago from a reader: “how do I get rid of one inch brown worms into mulch flowers beds and patio?” The first part – about getting rid of the brown worms – is easy enough to understand, but the second part is a little harder to get a handle on. Presumably, the reader found the brown worms in (as opposed to “into”) his flower beds, but we aren’t sure what this has to do with his patio. Perhaps the one inch brown worms are in his flower bed and on his patio, and since they are a nuisance, he wants to get rid of them? This is as reasonable of an interpretation as we can come up with, so we’ll go ahead assume this is the reader’s situation and proceed accordingly.