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Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:40 am
by mcgrumpers
Hey Everyone!

I water my little sarracenia using the tray method. Recently, I've been finding these little worms in the tray water and I'm not sure if they're harmful to my plant or if they're just gross.

This picture was taken after the plant was in the tray overnight:
worms in sarracenia tray
worms in sarracenia tray
worms1.jpg (160.99 KiB) Viewed 6138 times
Here is a video of them: https://vimeo.com/310716535

Does anyone know what these things are and how I can get rid of them?


Thanks!
mcgrumpers

Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:27 am
by twitcher
They look like they could be grindal worms, often cultured as a live fish food. Grindals are a close relative but much smaller than earthworms. However grindals usually drown in water over about 1/4" deep. So can't say for sure that is what you have. See this wiki for more information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchytraeus_buchholzi

Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:59 pm
by t9gear
I believe those are fungus gnat lava if they move quick
If they just swim around not sure


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Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:30 am
by KategoricalKarnivore
Could be soil nematodes. I see them sometimes on the “lips” of my pitchers.

Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:27 pm
by mcgrumpers
Thanks for the replies. They seem to survive in water for at least a day (I throw them out afterwards) so maybe they're not grindal worms. Based on the corpses on my ping, I know there are at least a few fungus gnats around so that's a solid hypothesis. Does this count as moving quick?

How could I differentiate whether they're fungus gnats or soil nematodes? More importantly, is there a way to get rid of them? :twisted:

I forgot to mention that the sarracenia came in a small peat rootball when I ordered it online and I planted it in pure sphagnum. Would the critters be more likely to live in the peat or in the sphagnum?

Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:02 pm
by KategoricalKarnivore
It doesn’t really matter, either way they aren’t doing any damage to your plants. Sarracenia tend to do better in peat based soils than sphagnum. Peat/perlite or peat/sand.

Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:12 am
by t9gear
Mosquito dunks in water worked for me


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Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:09 am
by mcgrumpers
I ended up using a few mosquito bits and they worked like a charm

Re: Tiny worms in sarracenia water tray

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2019 3:17 pm
by SundewWolf
mcgrumpers wrote: How could I differentiate whether they're fungus gnats or soil nematodes? More importantly, is there a way to get rid of them? :twisted:
Fungus gnat larvae have a black head if you look closely, while the nematodes are just a solid white worm. Mosquito dunks should work, many people seem to recommend them. I never bought them personally, but have dealt with nematodes in water trays and I just added some other insecticides to the water.