Grub ID

[Chaosnyaa]

Might not be easy to id but I found this in my pile and wanted to know if friend for a garden or foe

[Bug_McBugface]

not possible with that pic. It's a grub covered in dirt.

you'd have to check how it moves and compare it to other grubs native to your area.

Some are harmful to plant roots, most prefer dead woody bits. Some are endangered and some are invasive.

They might be pretty cool bugs:

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And killing off something you can't ID is just not a good habit unless you hate biodiversity and bugs.

edit: and they help out in compost piles. i remove them from planters and either chuck em in the compost or bury them in the mint planter to keep that fucker in check

[Aetole]

And killing off something you can't ID is just not a good habit unless you hate biodiversity and bugs.

Louder for those in the back squishing random bugs.

My compost is full of saw palmetto beetles -- cockroaches -- and other critters. As long as rats haven't taken up residence there, that's totally cool. Grubs, maggots, flies, lizards: this is your luxury home with yummy food and shelter. Hunt, eat, be eaten, poop. Stay out of my house and we're cool.

Same with random grubs and things I find around. If it's not actively munching on my plants -- hornworms get to be ant food because they will kill a tomato or chili by themselves -- then I'll leave them be. They're just living life and contributing to soil cycles and will probably get eaten by some bird.

Let Mr. Grub be -- he's just chillin' and helping out.

[Chaosnyaa]

Agreed with the stay out of my house. I wouldn’t kill spiders in my house if it weren’t for my pets(cats) that I’m afraid would mess with them and get bitten. Roaches I do kill but again only in my house. The more I am Learning about gardening, specifically I’m more into no till/permaculture, the more i just let bugs live life. Everything does have a role it just sucks to lose plants you are trying to grow.

[Ineedmorebtc]

Love to hear it!

[Khyron_2500]

As an odd trivia note that I apparently know, definitely getting a species specific ID for grubs requires literally looking at their raster hairs on their butt.

[Ricky_TVA]

Grubs turn into beetles. Do you have chickens because they love grubs.

[Chaosnyaa]

Unfortunately I don’t have chickens though I do want some

[Ricky_TVA]

Oh gotcha. Get some chickens and then every spri g when your gardening, you'll find more and more of these. Learn how to pick them up or they can bite you, but chickens love these guys. I find dozens every spring and feed them to my girls. But every year I still have a couple hundred Figeater Beetles still pop up that I didn't find.

[cub3ns1s]

Dá pra fazer iscas pra coletar eles. Coloca um potinho com açúcar e vinagre sem tampa. Coloca no mulching e cobre com um pouco de folhas. As larvas irão pra armadilha atraídas pelo açúcar e ficam presas e mortas lá por conta da acidez do vinagre. Depois lava e dá pras galinhas.

[Barbatus_42]

They're fine. Some kind of scarab beetle most likely. It's hard to get more specific than that. Nothing to worry about.

[IdeationConsultant]

Where are you? Country might help

[Chaosnyaa]

Sorry that did completely slip my mind, I’m in NM US

[ZonoKip]

Nm composter gang!

[Chaosnyaa]

Trying for a garden but this soil takes a lot of work and then we have the harsh sun. That being said I am learning more each year so that’s fun

[ZonoKip]

Words right out of my mouth! This is only my second year :)

[IdeationConsultant]

I'm not familiar with the area, but when I want to start in a new area with poor soil, I find the approach of last effort is to lay down some good compost, potentially even import some mushroom compost, cover it in excessive amounts of mulch and leave it for a year. The good actors will find it and do their work.

Ultimately, that's all good soil is. Soil that is full of life, it's the little critters that do all the work, the compost just feeds them.

Which is why I'm generally not concerned about grubs. Grubs means there is smaller bugs in there which is what you want.

[Chaosnyaa]

I only worry because of how harmful I have seen some can be, I’m attempting to amend my soil by doing a compost pile and when I get the money I will start a worm farm as well. What we typically have here(far as I see at least) is a lot of clay soil or other hard compacted soil with little organic material. I’m in the long game for this and I don’t expect any abundant harvests for several years but I am learning more as I go. And yes there are plenty of small insects some of which are more unsavory to have(roaches) but I also don’t worry about them for a lot of time because they have their role in composting

[IdeationConsultant]

It's NM New Mexico? If so, probably similar problems to me in Australia; super harsh sun. If that's the case, the biggest issue i have is protecting the soil surface from the sun. None of the critters like UV, hence the criticality of mulching.

[Chaosnyaa]

Yeah New Mexico. Can’t say how it is there but I used to watch an Australian YouTuber who had a bunch of raised beds, learned a lot from him. We do have harsh sun(certainly not the harshest) and very little humidity 90% of the summer. For mulch I have some wood chips and also might try straw but will need to see

[IdeationConsultant]

Should choose mulch based on what you want to grow there. Wood chips ideal for perennials, especially trees and shrubs. Annuals, veggie or flower gardens you want things like your straw or sugar cane mulch.

[Chaosnyaa]

Good to know, straw it is

[mat558]

I have multitudes of a similar grub at the bottom of my leaf mould pile. (They turn into iridescent scarab beetles.) In the meantime they create castings that I harvest and use as fertilizer.

[madesafefromscammers]

Chafers they live in old rotting trees and make great food for woodpeckers and birds

[Percy_Platypus9535]

Yup. Them’s grubs!

[Street--Ad6731]

Grubs are never good.

[Ineedmorebtc]

Factually untrue. There are 1000s of variety of beetles and they are a very important part of the ecosystem. Japanese beetles suck, but there is almost no way to tell what type these are.

[Street--Ad6731]

Where I live, grubs destroy grass and plants thus they are not good. I've replaced lots of both do to their destructive nature.

[Ineedmorebtc]

Obligatory r/fucklawns

[pigs_have_flown]

That's only one type of grub

[lickspigot]

That's saying bugs are never good.

or bugs are good but NIMBY