Need a better description of the wormy things. Freshly emerged baby earthworms are transparent, or nearly so. However, there are other possibilities. Anything about these things that are NOT earthworm-like?

I think I know what worm you're talking about. I saw some last year on my plants outside. They look like those clear noodles and when they walk they sort of bend in half?

I think they may be called nematodes.

I just found some in my bonsai's top soil, but there was no trace of any tiny white bugs.

Mrbrownthumb has it, I believe. It certainly sounds like Nematodes. There are many different kinds. Some are predatory and get rid of nasty organisms in the soil. Good for them! Many others eat decaying plant matter, and are a helpful part of the natural cycle of things (outdoors!) Some kinds are nasty pests and will attack roots and bulbs. Whatever kind you've got, you naturally don't want them in your indoor plant's soil. I'd take the bulb out of the pot, rinse it, and examine the bottom area when the roots come out. It it's mushy or caved in/eaten away, I'd chuck the plant. It's chances of surviving would be pretty darned slim. In that case, it was likely either attacked by nasty nematodes already, or else rot started on it's own, and nematoes moved in to gobble up the already-decomposing vegetable matter.
If the base of the bulb looks healthy, I'd get every bit of dirt off that I could, dust it with a pesticide intended for nematodes (or soak it down thoroughtly with an insecticidal soap, etc. May not be effective, but better than nothing to try it), leave it sit for an hour or so, and then pot it up in fresh potting mix with no outdoor soil.
Best of luck!

Not nematodes. There are a lot of confusing descriptions going on here. You could all be talking about completely different animals. But not nematodes.

Planarians, horsehair worms, newly hatched earth worms, fungus gnat larvae, etc. Not nematodes.

"...a whole bunch of long, thin, little transparent worms started crawling up and coiling themselves one way and the other."

Planarians are flat, rather than round.
Horsehair worms (Nematomorpha), are quite similar to nematodes though they tend to be dark (like a stiff horsehair), rather than clear the way many nematodes are.
Earthworm hatchlings do coil/writhe when they're disturbed. Could be them, but if the adult worm drown and they didn't, I'd guess not... plus earthworms aren't generally transparent, even as hatchlings. Here's a hatchling shot:

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/science/erg/faqs.htm

It certainly could be fungus gnat larvae, (that'd be my guess if not nematodes) though they're more opaque than a lot of nematodes are. (Nmemer- if they have dark heads, they're most likely F.G. larvae; if not, check out the nematode pics.)

I wouldn't say I was certain they were nematodes, but the description fits them very well, so I don't know why anyone who was familiar with nematodes would completely discount the possibility! There are lots of them in the soil in the upper Midwest, and they could easily come in with a plant that was in outdoor soil. (They show up in potting soil sometimes, too.) Here they are, in all their long, thin, transparent, coiling-and-writhing-when-disturbed "glory":

Here is a link that might be useful: Nematode shots (they're the clear ones)

Size. I've seen some nematode species with my naked eye, but they are very very very small. On a recent post in another forum, a very experienced GW 'answerer' (did I make up a word?) mentioned that horsehair worms are whitish in her location. It is reported that newly emerged (from their host insect) hh worms are very thin, transparent. They are actually quite common. Another part of the description that is very hh wormish is that our original poster found what sounds like a bunch of them. That is TOTALLY like the hhs.

Just a thought. Sounds a bit creepy, whatever it is. If these were my critters, I would rather that they be hh worms than any of the other possibilities, that's for sure, lol.

blecch!! this is why I'd rather keep my plants indoors...no matter how beneficial a summer outside is for them....

Ines, I admit when I take my plants out, spiders and some earwigs find their way in the pots, but this doesn't happen every yr. I've never once found worms in my plants..I've seen threads from people who just bought plants and found worms in the soil. So, they don't have to be outside to find bugs. If you keep the area cleaned more than likely bugs will find somewhere else to go. Toni

Eww, I don't know what's worse-- horsehair worms are pretty creepy when they butst out of an Orthopteran's gut, all Alien-like!! I don't mind earthworms at all.

Nematodes come in many different sizes, from barely visible to pretty darned large. The largest I've seen (in zoo class, fortuately already dead) were about 30". I'd assume nobody here'd have those pig parasites in their plants, though! Most of those I've seen in outdoor soil run about 1 cm-- smaller than 1", but easily visible. They can be present in large numbers, too when conditions are right (like in squishy bulb bases.) Adult horsehair worms (the ones that would be outside the host's body) are 4" to 24"...quite a bit over an inch.
I googled for text on "Horsehair worms" and "white" and found that they are indeed white before they emerge from their insect host, but darken to tan/yellow/brown or black shortly after emerging.
On a K-state emtomology site, the author Entomologist (Phillip Sloderbeck) wrote about horsehair worms, "They can be visually separated from Nematodes (round worms) by their color and shape. Nematodes are white in color and taper at both ends."
Again, I'm not saying the pests in question couldn't be horsehair worms or something else, but the description certainly does cover Nematodes as well.
Nicole-- I think inquiring minds need a macro-shot ;)
Whatever you've got, taking away all of the old soil and dusting the bulb should help get rid of them!

ooojen...Master Sleuth! ;-) We don't usually get nice icky stuff like this in the Houseplant Forum! What fun.

Ah, but still no answers! Nicole, the original poster, probably got bored with this long ago--lol!

Hilarious! I just found my own post on a web search and checked back out of curiousity. I had given up and chucked the whole plant back in April. I had no idea that the worms had sparked so much discussion! Sorry to not have a photo. If it ever happens again, I'll take a picture. This was interesting reading!

i have the little white bugs along with the worms!! They are eating my roots and killing my plants! They are inside and out all through my san francisco back yard sandy soil!! Several of my friends have them too. help!!

Does anyone have any idea what the worms are that are in the attached photo?

I just came home with a Benjamina tree yesterday from our local Rona and the soil is covered with white worms.

I took a high quality photo and circle the worms; please check the link attached.

Shoudl I kill these worms? Soak the soil? Or are the worms good for the tree?

The worms are crawly and writhering and are about 1-2 cm in legth.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:82168}}

I have a bonsai growing kit that is doing fairly well -- these worms showed up about a week ago and I left them alone to see what they would do. However, when one of the sprouts shriveled up with holes in its leaves, I've begun to kill them. From previous posts, they look like nematodes or fungus gnat larvae. However, they are not reproducing as quickly as the larvae pictures online appear to, but they do have small black heads. Does anyone know of an insecticide that could perhaps rid my plant of these worms? I believe my plants are still healthy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Worms in my bonsai growing kit.

Does anyone have microscopic clear and rust colored worms on their plants and grass? They squirm on my feet and my dogs bring them in...parasite? also eggs the same color..transparent rust. Any knowledge of these critters would be helpful...thanx, Jane

Sophie, I think those might be grubs. There are pesticides called Grub-ex that get rid of them. They like to eat roots I think. They mature into flying beatles.

I found this under my Potentillia outside today and thought it was strange. I have a photo and movie of it if anyone wants to see it.,,, Very strange

You can't see nematodes with the naked eye. You need a microscope.

omg that happend to me i had a little plant and i accidently drowned it and the next morning there were thin little worms

I had nematodes once, a long long time ago.

I had not idea what they were. And no I did not see them with my naked eye, but when I watered my poor naked eyes could see the top of the soil in the pot moving. Creeped me out, plant went to the dump.

It's been 3 months since this was last commented on and about 11 years since it began, but I'm gonna give it a shot anyway & hope that at least one of you will see this & possibly help me. I'll start by confessing that I'm very new to plants & still quite uneducated when it comes to, well, all of it- so please bare with me. I have a bunch of plants, one of which is spearmint. It's kind of doing great, yet pretty poorly at the same time (I know, I know, extremely contradictive). It has tons of new growth coming out of the potting mix but most of the upper new growth begins w/ brown tips. The more established leaves are either completely fine, smallish & weakish looking or are yellowing- it just depends on what leaf you're looking at basically. I believe I have springtails hopping about (and as all my plants are indoors, you can imagine the horror I feel upon not being able to get rid of them) & hv recently seen a few small ants sneaking about as well. Tonight I noticed maybe 2 or 3 teeny tiny white-ish bugs (from what I could tell, they were not very far off from a springtails body type, just white-but it was very hard to see them) and I also saw something tiny & red scrurrying into the soil. As if that wasn't a bad enough, as I inspected it closer I saw some clear slime right near the new growth in the potting mix. And if THAT wasn't bad enough, the slime started to inch it's way out of the soil! It was a freakin worm! I grabbed it with a spoon & saw that it was 100% clear, no tinge of color whatsoever. And it's "innards" were clearly visible- there was a black line inside its body. It did not writhe around or curl, as mentioned earlier in this post. It simply reached up its upper body, looked right at me, and seemed to ask "why are you so scared, lady?". It was almost cute, but I was on the verge of puking &/or crying at that point, so down the sink it went. And ideas? On any of it? I prob won't get any responses & just spent 20 mins writing this obnoxiously long post for nothing, but.. here's to hoping

Jasmine, that does sound awful, and not an enjoyable aspect of having potted plants, so sorry!

It doesn't really matter what it was, it shouldn't be in the pot of your plant. I strongly urge you to get new soil for your plant, take it out of the pot, push/pull/rinse the old soil off, rinse the pot, and replace with the new soil. Issue resolved in just a few minutes.

When pots &/or bags of soil are outside, especially sitting on the ground, various critters can find their way into them. None of them are helpful to potted plants. There are substances you could pot in the soil to kill them, but then you'll have a pot with "some kind of 'cide" and dead bugs in it, which is the less unappealing of 2 unacceptable situations, to me, (than a pot with live bugs in it,) as far as my opinion goes in your personal decision making.

Best luck! :)

Thank you so much Tiffany! I agree, unacceptable & simply not okay, whatever it was.. which, I've actually pinpointed through good ol' google, was in fact fungus gnat larvae.. not happy about this. Considering how one female will lay several hundred eggs, the fact that I saw one is enough to convince me that there's a major infestation going on. Today, for the 1st time, I saw a small flying insect, and assume it's an adult fungus gnat. It's very frustrating- my mint is quite tempermental & begins to pout the instant her soil gets a little too dry. and she pouts so severely that each time I think ive killed her, only to watch her perk right back up after watering. She's the only one who's soil must be maintained at moist, if not damp, and I knew it would cause problems. I'm so concerned about my other plants. I will try what you said, getting rid of old soil, cleaning & starting fresh- but since I know the spearmint has this gnat problem, it's probably safe to assume others, if not all, do as well, right? I'd find it hard to believe that these nasty critters haven't invaded any of my other guys, but (hope I don't jinx anything) I have yet to see this same problem with the other ones. I'm about ready to get rid of the poor spearmint at this point, if for nothing else to minimize exposure for the others (unless it's already happened, of course). Do you think that if I only saw a few, and haven't seen traces of anything other than springtails on the other plants, that maybe it's not a full blown infestation & was caught early enough? or, in your experience, is it usually a case of "where you see one, there will be thousands more"? and that I should treat each plant as if they're infected? I'm sorry for the questions, but as stated earlier, I'm new to this and don't quite know what I'm doing yet. thank you again, so much, for your helpful response

I'm happy to offer food for thought for your investigation. When a critter is living in the soil, removing the soil should get rid of the critter. Since gnats can fly, they can come in any time a door is opened. They are a pest of the soil, and are extraneous to potted plants, unless/until they eat the roots of the plant.

There are products with BTi that can be put in the water given to plants that kill fungus gnat larvae. Popular brand names are mosquito bits & mosquito dunks (which, as the names would imply, also kill mosquito larvae.)

Since I stopped having any peat/peatmoss in pots, I haven't had an issue with these critters. They prefer the ground outside, even when my potted plants are outside most of the year. Where I live, there are a LOT of gnats. They are so annoying, I'm constantly shoo'ing them away from my face.

yeah, they definitely like to get way too close up & personal for my liking! I did what you suggested- removed all soil, scrubbed pot, trimmed dead roots, etc. I end up killing ants though any time I do something that drastic and my mint is no exception, I think. she's definitely not looking like herself. I assume it's because I messed with the root ball, do you think that would be the culprit? I just really wanted to remove ALL remnants of soil & cut the dead ones off. unfortunately though, earlier today I saw what I believe to be a fungus gnat creeping about the rest of my plant collection, so I have a bad feeling that this problem is far from over. I'll look for the names you suggested, that's very helpful! I also read that dosing the plant with some hydrogen peroxide and water can kill the larvae, have you ever tried this? I had no idea the peat moss could pose such a problem! and I believe all my mixes contain it except for obviously the perlite and coconut coir. maybe I should try planting them all in that but not sure if it will give them all the necessary nutrients. but I guess that's what supplementing with fertilizer is for? I dont even know! thank you again so much for all your help!

I have very limited experience with cococoir, but it's been nothing but positive. I would love to have access to enough to use in a lot more pots! Peat moss is organic matter. Although it decays very slowly, it's decaying organic matter, like anything else that used to be alive but now is not. It's the exact stuff gnats seek in which to lay their eggs, where the larvae hatch and eat the decaying organic matter, then become the flying adults. The flying adults are not the target for stopping them, but changing the conditions so they are no longer a perfect habitat, and eliminating any existing larvae to break the cycle.

Totally agree, in a pot, it's impossible to maintain a live ecosystem of microbes, which are necessary to convert decaying organic matter into a form and location that roots can access and use, so trying to provide fertility via soil is futile. Only effective when growing in the ground.

Since I don't have a problem with FG's, I haven't tried any product to get rid of them. I was unaware of the BTi products back when I did use peaty potting soil & had fungus gnats. I can't say anything about peroxide & plants. I've killed plants with a lot of "home remedies" and the like, but did not discover the peroxide one back in my home remedies days. I'm sure I would have tried it.

Mint is not a common plant to be inside in a pot because it needs so much sun. Since gnats dine on/live in decaying organic matter, if your mint (or any plant) is constantly struggling, the struggle will be below the soil as well as above, meaning dying and decaying roots (organic matter,) and probably likely to attract FG's, as is any decaying organic matter.

I thought I'd have a tough time with keeping the mint indoors but figured I'd give it a shot, as I love tea and like to steep some spearmint leaves with it. when I 1st got the mint (which was kept outdoors at the store), I tried replicating the environment it was used to. I'd put the plant outside during the day, only to find it severely wilted within an hour. it was a strange and unforseen side effect. either the temperature was too high or the sun was too strong, although it did the same when placed in a shaded area as well. so, it's remained indoors ever since. it's looking awful, I'm positive I killed it by the way I cleaned it the other night, I have to figure out how to do that correctly! I was fortunate to have found the cococoir- it was the only bag in the store and I've never seen another one since, even though I went to several different shops, so now I'm stingy about who gets it! what do you think of bottom watering? I have everything from African violets to Chinese evergreens to succulents to rosemary to fittonia, etc. when I water one of my basils from the bottom (via one of those "self watering" pots), it not only does very well but the top of the soil is barely even damp. from my limited experience, I could be wrong in thinking this is a good thing, but it seems like it is- as I said, the Basil seems to be doing great, and I'd assume there's less of a risk of infestation when the top of the soil isn't wet right after watering. I dont know what it is, but every single plant I have remains very wet for awhile after watering, even the ones with tons of perlite in the mixture. I watered my begonia over a week ago and the top of the soil is still extremely damp, I feel like it's very unnatural to have them remain in this condition for so long. I'm just not sure what to do about it, do you have any advice on that? (oh, and I also keep a small fan running on one window full of plants for the entire day, then switch it to the other window of plants at night. I thought that would help them dry a bit & also help with air circulation, but it doesn't seem to help with drying, at all) thank you!

Your basil sounds great. When something is not broken, it does not need fixing.

I've killed a lot of plants by bottom-watering. The soil I use now would not wick moisture upward, and I haven't done any bottom-watering in so long, I can't say much about it except that I don't do it because of past negative experiences.

I use a fan too when my plants are inside. My house doesn't heat with a central system, and a ceiling fan is the only source of air movement, necessary to spread the heat, and also ensures the plants have moving air. Whenever a central heat (or A/C, during summer, for those with plants inside all year) system kicks on, it would move the air. If it is running often, that's probably enough air movement.

Except for some cacti & succulent type plants, the vast majority of plants become extremely stressed if the soil gets too dry. If the soil is causing root suffocation/rot while moist, and soil must be allowed to become significantly dry before adding more, it creates a situation where plants are constantly in flux between extremes. I have much better results from consistency, by using a soil that is chunky/porous/airy enough that roots to not suffocate & rot while it is moist. Roots need oxygen & moisture at the same time to function, and I hope they are functioning all of the time, not just in spurts when conditions permit. I don't worry about plants getting too moist, just too dry. It's much easier to be able to just make sure they all get a drink every few days.

I was finally able to stop killing plants by "overwatering" when this concept was shared with me. You can read much more first-hand:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1490818/good-growing-practices-an-overview-for-beginners?n=207

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1497307/ukeeping-u-them-looking-good?n=38

Thank you Tiffany! That is all extremely helpful. It's been a bit frustrating, trying to read those 2 posts. Not even a minute of reading goes by before this annoying ad pops up and there's no "x" or close option, so I was backing out then starting to read from where I left off, only for the extremely annoying ad to surface yet again. Maybe it's just my phone? I can't see how that would happen to everyone who's reading it because I unfortunately couldn't even finish the second article since the time for the ad became shorter & shorter. I did get some very useful info though on the first one, especially about soil. also learned a few things on watering that I'd never heard of (such as "perched water", who knew?!). You said you focus more on consistency- giving the plants water before they dry out, and that sounds great. I just feel like, for me, that would lead to rot & more bugs. I guess that could be the potting mix I use though. I basically have some in a medium made for indoor potted plants, by miracle grow & some in a cacti miracle grow mix then the others w/ the coir & perlite. From reading that article though, it sounds like everything except for maybe the perlite is bad (peat, which you already told me about- sand, cococoir- basically everything in my pots right now!). You said you use a mix that is airy & porous, may I ask what you use? I never questioned that going to the store, grabbing a bag of mix & potting my plants with it would be a bad decision, but that's why I'm here- to learn as much as I can :-) Thank you so much for sharing those articles, you're very kind for all the help you've given me!

Happy to share. :+)

I'm only on the internet via computer, no idea how it works on a phone.

I break the rules a lot of the time, but if buying a bag, I look for cactus/palm soil. There's a lot written on this forum about soil mixes with store-bought stuff. Those would be more likely to be helpful to you than a recap of my madcap soil adventures.

Some links:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2842847/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention?n=8

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4682860/newbie-gritty-mix-w-o-bark-unscreened-turface-in-layers?n=5

Thank you so so much, I'm going to read them right now!

I guess I'll ha e to wait for access to a computer. or I can try both of my sons tablets, maybe they'll allow me to read the posts. I immediately got the ad pop up and again, no way to X out of it. ohh well- I'll try it when I kick my kids off the internet from their devices! thank you again, very very much!!

One more.. I just wanted to tell you that my mint has survived!! (so far, at least) I really thought it was a goner, was drooping all the way down to the windowsill w/ pretty much nothing but dead leaves, I almost threw it away. but awhile back I'd read a post about transplant shock & saw that one of the ways to help plants suffering from it is to cut them down significantly. I did this and it still looked awful but thought I'd give it another day or so to hopefully recover before tossing it. it miraculously perked up though, and I even see some new growth now!! I'm not sure if it was from cutting it back or if it just needed time, but I really thought I killed it. I'm sure you don't care but I'm only sharing this with you because you're the only reason I still have the plant. I was hellbent on throwing it away after seeing the FG larvae, until you advised me to remove all soil, clean pot well & put it in with new fresh soil. I would have most definitely thrown it away had you not shared your knowledge and advice & I'm so grateful you did. thank you for helping me and my little Mintling!!

How awesome! I didn't have a thing to say about mint in particular because I can't even keep some alive in the ground. So many times I've bought chocolate mint & tried to get it to "invade the lawn" so at least I'd have the pleasure of the chocolatey scent when I mowed, but it never worked.

So sorry if it seemed like not caring, just trying to not jinx your plant by even thinking about it, let alone trying to help with a plant I can only kill, & getting any bad mojo on it, and was not on computer much in the past days.

No matter what kind of plant, unusual plants like cacti and epiphytes notwithstanding, their roots like the same things. If one can make that part happy, and have the amount of light (and other more minor factors like air movement, humidity, temp) that makes the foliage respond equally well, all of their plants should be happy, healthy, and looking their best.

TY so much for the fun update!

Well, you may have never commented on the mint, directly, but that was the only plant in which I saw the fg larvae in & the one I was so concerned with when commenting on this ancient thread. so that is the plant you ended up advising me on, even if you didn't realize it, and thanks to you- it's alive! it absolutely would've gone in the dumpster outside had you not commented what and when you did. and youve given me much help in general. thank you for your kindness!!

This is an old post. But this just happened to me last night. On indoor basil. It's cold, Nov. ,they've been indoors since july! All the other insects iv found iv never seen this. So i was watering. From bottom. I use a plastic coffee lid, big and deep. It's a square pot and has basil cuttings from summer,replanted on each corner. Anyway. Thyr was a little water left in the thing, i took it to sink to wash out. The XACT worm was right thyr. Tiny clear but a black line of in-ards seeable. Hears the creepier part. I didn't want the thing in my sink. I wanted it dead in trash to bring out. As i reached for sumthing, it was like water still in the lid was "jumping" ,1st i was thinking. Omg, i got the shakes! ,lol. I held it 100% still and the dirt in the water was in fact,like jumping around . i saw nothing. But ,dirt ! No pics as i didn't expect this nor had an extra arm to go grab phone. I sprayed my rubbing alcohal and peppermint EO in it and oddly all the "dirt" Stopped moving ,it all formed itself into one clump of dirt. I brought it to trash immediatly. The basil is still in here ,I don't understand what i just witnessed. ! 🤔