cyw
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2015 5:04 pm

Eggplant - Worms in Soil

This is my first time planting eggplants out of a container on my balcony and I'm wondering how often you typically water your plants. I water them every day. This summer, it's been around 80 degrees most of the time with periodic heat waves of 90 -100 degrees.

Recently, I've noticed worms or maggots or something similar in the soil. I don't know exactly what they are, but is it harmful to the plant and could it be due to overwatering? I've attached two pictures. It may be hard to see the maggot, but it's the white thing in the bottom of the pictures.
Attachments
12.jpg
11.jpg

CharlieBear
Green Thumb
Posts: 588
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:19 pm
Location: Pacific NW

Probably not from over watering, so some reason either adult plants found this and attractive site to lay eggs, or they were already in the mixture you used to start them in. It is hard for me to see exactly what is growing from the picture. It might be harmless, but I can't tell for sure, maybe someone else closer to your part of country will recognize it because of where you are and the time of year. If you are concerned you could kill all you see or carefully remove the top 1-2" of soil and replace. I am sure there are some chemical solutions, but I don't use them.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It is larvae of some moth or beetle probably at this time of the year and not a good thing. Since you want to eat the egg plant, I would just pick out what you can find. Repot the eggplant and get rid of the soil, might be better. Since this is a pot, use a white plastic bag (I use my MG potting soil bag, the inside is white) and use it as a mulch over the pot. It will help to keep the moisture in and bugs out. I would also put in a 2 ft 1 inch pvc pipe with holes drilled in it into the pot next to the roots. Water through the watering tube and make the smallest holes or slits you can in the plastic. You can cut the plastic to fit the pot. You will still need to check the soil moisture but with your temperatures, and if your pot and media drain well, you may still have to water everyday right now.



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