Selfsufficientish.com

with digging our new veg beds - we have come across these really alien looking maggots with leggs - about 3-4 cm long.. yellow with brownish head...
think, after lots of googling - and then lots of feeling itchy after looking at all those pictures.. we have chafers. lots of the buggers.
anyone any experience? will all my veg fail? cabbage fall one by one.. sweetcorn get pulled into the ground?

how friendly are nematoids.. to humans and wildlife?

sweamish,,,,,

Hi Red, have you been to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer
It gives a discription, life cycle, eradication etc.

Robin

Not sure I'd eat them covered in sugar, but an interesting article nonetheless. I dig down really deep fish out the obvious ones, and let the chooks loose to deal with the rest. Each year they seem to be less- practical only on a small level, but I do seem to be getting on top of them. My Dad said that these are a particular problem on veg patches that are made in where there used to be turf as that is their favourite, so maybe I'm not winning they've just moved up the garden!

kind thoughts
Deb

We had plenty of them the first year as our veg patch had been left very weedy with lots of grass in it. Same thing every time we have dug a new bed where previously there was turf. They are a problem with lettuce as the grubs eat through the roots and the lettuce collapses overnight.

The good news is that after a few years they seem to disappear.

By the way, if you find very similar grubs in your compost heap, leave them be. They are most likely larvae of the Rose Chafer, which are good insects and don't eat your veg!

See this guide to all the similar grubs:

http://maria.fremlin.de/stagbeetles/lar ... index.html

ah and our veg beds are all new - dug out of field and lawn. so that might explain it. and why the jackdaws are all over the earth digging away... pulling up my garlics...

so maybe things will improve? hope so....

I don't fancy the soup either.