Millipedes? - Orchid Board

(..._...) · #1 07-14-2008, 03:36 PM

I just wanted to know if it was bad to have millipedes in my potting medium. I have several millipedes watering around various pots, but I heared they were not bad, and could be benificial. Is this true?

Ross · #2 07-14-2008, 04:25 PM

It means the medium is severly broken down. These things live in and on decaying woody material. They would not be there if the mix was fresh. They are not the trouble - the decayed mix will lead, one day, to rotted roots.

(..._...) · #3 07-14-2008, 05:41 PM

Well my mix is fresh

. I have seen them primarily in sphag moss, which is new as well, so they should not be a problem, right?

smweaver · #4 07-14-2008, 05:52 PM

Yeah, my plants--even ones that have been recently replanted in new mix--get millipedes also. But I usually only see them when the plants go out on the porch every spring. I think they're fairly harmless. The only thing I don't really like about them is that they emit a nasty smell when you pick them up--well, that and the ticklish feeling they give when they walk across the back of your hand. :-)

orchids3 · #5 07-14-2008, 06:17 PM

I get them in freshly potted plants that are in 50% rocks and CHC. How they get up on plastic benches is beyond me. Does anyone know what they eat and if they really do any harm? Is there more than one type of milipede here? Mine are the fat bodied brown ones? Will give mine away free if I can resist squashing the darn things.

cowboy51278 · #6 07-14-2008, 11:15 PM

I found a few in my seedlings this past spring. I freaked out and started looking them up. The worst I heard was that if they run out of things to munch on in your media they'll go after new soft root tips. This was right after I repoted all the seedlings so I know the mix was fresh, and the seedlings are on they're own bench away from the rest of my orchids. So how they got there I don't know.....especially since I grow in the house. Only thing I could think of was that they came in the media itself. At any rate I plucked them out and tossed them outside (can't ever bring myself to kill anything) and gave the plants a good shot of Bayer Rose and Flower. I don't know if it works on them but it made me feel like I was doing something, so I felt better. Anyways after that I didn't find anymore.

(..._...) · #7 07-14-2008, 11:54 PM

lol
I still have new roots growing in my pots that seem to have these things

There are Centipedes and Millipedes, the millipedes are smaller I think... thats what I have, and they curl up into a little ball if you disturb them!!

Maybe they eat other pests in the medium...

cowboy51278 · #8 07-15-2008, 08:21 AM

I know the centipedes eat lots of other little buggies. But I think the millipedes are vegetarians. I could be wrong though

JennS · #9 07-15-2008, 11:16 AM

I don't know the answer either, but I have the same thing. Little brown bugs with tons of legs that curl into a ball upon disturbing them. I find them in freshly re-potted plants as well as ones that have not been recently re-potted. I grow outdoors, so I kind of assume they are inevitable... I haven't seen any problems as a result from them though. They seem basically harmless. However, if I hear otherwise, I will let everyone know!