some kind of bug egg???

[Weedeater]

Her I am again with some more pics. We seem to have come across some kind of bug eggs(?) in Mom's tomato pots. They're just lying on the dirt and seem pretty soft- they mash real easy. These are new come and not part of the potting soil either.
Here ya go...

[img]https://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/nothernug/Home%20and%20Garden/bugeggsmaybe007.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/nothernug/Home%20and%20Garden/bugeggsmaybe010.jpg[/img]

So are they bug eggs and if so, what are they from and best way to deal with them (if other than just mushing them before they can hatch at all)???

Thanks for all.

[Kisal]

Pics of those things seem to get posted every year. I don't think they've ever been 100% firmly ID-ed.

A couple of suggestions have been slow-release fertilizer that was part of the soil mix -- that's my personal favorite, BTW -- to bits of perlite or vermiculite congested with water. I seriously don't think they are bug eggs of any kind, though.

It's quite possible that you just didn't notice them in the soil mix. Pellets of slow-release fertilizer, such as Osmocote, are smaller and opaque, but after they've been in the soil for awhile, they absorb water and become more obvious.

If you want to run a test, you could put a bit of the soil with the "eggs" in a jar with a lid, put holes in the lid, and keep the soil slightly moist. If these are eggs of any kind, they should hatch, and you can see what the critter is. Might be a fun project for a child who has an interest in bugs. It would be nice if you posted pics of the project, so we could finally confirm or deny that they are insect eggs.

[Weedeater]

Your comments make sense. Then, so to does trying to hatch them to verify it. That sounds like a plan.

I'll update as we go.

[Francis Barnswallow]

What Kisal said.

[johnny123]

I agree, fertilizer.
I have some green ones if you want to add some color.

[Thomas CA]

Fish eggs. Usually fish eggs or 'roe' are mixed into commercial slow release fertilizers, compost, or potting soils. As they break down they release fish oils into the soil.

[Kisal]

That's an interesting idea. They do look like fish eggs, except all the fish eggs I've seen have been much larger. I'm sure, however, that smaller fish produce smaller eggs.

Can you provide any kind of reference for this practice? I've not been able to find anything to confirm it. As I mentioned, this question comes up perennially around here, so it would be really great to have some solid reference to provide for new members.

[jal_ut]

Frog eggs. The potting soil probably had algae mixed in with it and the eggs came with that.

[garden5]

Personally, they look like some type of hydrated fertilizer to me. However, I'm no egg expert, either.

I say to put some of that soil into a container with a screen on the opening and see just what hatches....if anything. Hey, maybe we could turn this into a pole and see if the majority is right.

[rainbowgardener]

Either little balls of fertilizer or sometimes the perlite they put in the potting soil soaks up water and turns into little water filled balls like that. I don't think they are eggs of anything. You can pop them and a little water (liquid anyway) sprays out, but then the shell is empty and hollow.

[Kisal]

I have a difficult time imagining that it's perlite. Perlite is expanded volcanic glass, and it holds a lot of water because the interior is made up of open cells, somewhat like a honeycomb. I don't see how it could turn into these little clear-ish ball-type things, no matter how much water it had in it.

I do think it might be some kind of slow-release fertilizer, but I can't find any reference to fish eggs being used as such, nor can I find any reference that algae, perhaps containing frog eggs, is ever added to soil mixes. Also, fish and frog eggs are not all perfectly spherical, like the little balls in the OP's pic. Some of them tend to be ovoid in shape. And the fish and frog eggs I've seen in real life have a dark little dot in the center, similar to the yolk of a bird's egg.

I'd love to read about someone putting some in a jar to see if they hatch, even though I don't think they are eggs of any kind.

[TWC015]

I think they are fertilizer as well. That would be one giant bug to lay eggs that large. The fertilizer was probably just not as noticeable when they potting mix was drier and/or the water washed the soil away from them.

[veteran]

They are obviously dragon eggs. But in all honesty, they are very very likely slug eggs. Here are some other slug egg pictures, let me know if you agree.

[img]https://www.cirrusimage.com/Mollusca/mollus4.jpg[/img]

[img]https://cache2.artprintimages.com/p/LRG/26/2629/SS6MD00Z/art-print/george-grall-mass-of-slug-eggs-under-a-log.jpg[/img]

They can also change in color, shape, and size. But these are general ideas of what most average slug eggs look like.


Try to search the internet for 'slug eggs' you should find thousands of images on bing and what not.

[Kisal]

Last fall, I conjectured that they might be slug eggs. No one else seemed to see any logic in that possibility at the time.

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=171126#171126

I think it's possible that the balls might be slow-release fertilizer. But I also think the slug egg suggestion is a strong contender in ID-ing these things. I found [url=https://www.ronlutzii-photographer.com/Nature/slug/16413452_Tidmc#1234621421_yoWUe]this site[/url], which IMO, lends credence to the slug egg theory.

Anyone for hatching out a bunch of baby slugs?

[johnny123]

Contacted Scotts.
See my post "Not Eggs"
I also sent the picture that was posted by Weedeater and Scotts confrimed them to be the fertilizer.

I have seen these in my potting soil every year for years.

There are eggs that look the same but for the most part you are probably just seeing the "Osmocote Plant Food" liquid fertilizer pellets.
They are hard to find in dry potting soil but they change in looks from moisture and then they are easy to see.

[SharonCC1]

I too have seen these in all of my home plants that were near one another only & wondered what they were.., I picked through them & resoiled my planst, as I did I did see some tiny bugs borrowing so I did a bit of research & found this..

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn ... beetle.htm

[rainbowgardener]

What did the "tiny bugs" look like?

I really think all the previous comments were right and they are balls of liquid fertilizer.

Pop one. If it is fertilizer, it will pop and spray a bit of liquid out. Then it will be just an empty shell. None of that would be true if it were any kind of egg.

What hatches from a beetle egg is not a "tiny bug," it is a tiny worm/larva. They would be minature versions of these guys:

[gunner9122007]

Hello everyone. I want to start off by saying that I have been gardening for years. I do flowers as well as vegetables. I have to deal with these things every year. They are slug eggs. The best way to deal with them is to place a barrier around your plants. This barrier can consist of anything dry and rough. You want to keep in mind that if you use something that will get soggy when it rains, you will need to redo the barrier. The best thing to use is coarse sand mixed with lime. When using this, it is best to make the barrier at least 4 inches wide. The slugs will not cross this because the sand causes scratches on their bellies and the lime causes them to, for lack of a better word, cook. I hope that this has been helpful.

[Gary350]

Get several moles for your yard they eat, grubs, slugs, cut worms, wasp larvae, termites, ants, bugs, eggs, just about everything. Moles live in the shade where soil is cooler, they like very large shade trees and north side of your house. It appears moles do not eat fishing worms my garden has lots of worms and I have lots of moles.

[gman4691]

Those are, in all likelihood, some type of snail or slug eggs. I found some very similar under a rotting log where there has been no gardening or fertilization (e.g. perlite, potting soil, etc.) of any kind. A day or two later, I found a pretty large slug on the same log. The ones that I found were about 1/16" - 1/8" in diameter and in a bundle about 1/2" long in total (maybe 10 or 15 eggs). Too large for insect eggs. Frogs and most toads lay their eggs in the water. Salamander eggs are larger than these. So I'm going with slug eggs as an answer.

[gman4691]

As it turns out, the ones I found were snail eggs. Watched them for several weeks before they finally hatched. The baby snails were about almost as long as an ant.