Grubs in compost

PunkRotten · Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:51 pm

Hi,

I have been noticing a lot of these grubs in my compost. Are they a good thing or bad? Are they June bug larvae?

[img]https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/punkrotten/938_1811.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/punkrotten/938_1814.jpg[/img]

Kisal · Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:38 pm

I'm not a pro, but from it's size, I would guess it to be a black soldier fly larva. They are good to have in your compost. I look forward to their arrival every season.

PunkRotten · Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:44 pm

After looking at google images of black soldier fly larvae I don't think they are them. These grubs are a little bigger plus they lack some of the markings. I think they could be june bug larvae. I also see that they burrow into the soil too.

Kisal · Sun Oct 09, 2011 12:55 am

It's very possible that they aren't black soldier fly larvae, but I don't think they are June bug larvae. They lack the prominent legs of those larvae.

[img]https://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/so-id/entomology/Lawn/wgjl.jpg[/img]

rainbowgardener · Sun Oct 09, 2011 5:06 am

Agree with both... It's not a BSF larva, which I am familiar with from having them in my worm bin last winter. They are more tapered, with the little peg at one end.

[img]https://insects.tamu.edu/extension/publications/epubs/local_images/eee00001b.jpg[/img]

But it's also not a june bug larva. And it's not a Japanese beetle grub. So back to square one. I unfortunately can't help either with what it IS. Generally I don't worry about stuff like that in a working outdoor pile- it is outdoors and it's supposed to be living and have a variety of living beings in it. When I occasionally find something like that in my finished compost, I take them out and turn them in to bird food, unless I know it is a good guy.