Find a form of Bt that kills grubs and caterpillars. Then put it in
your hose-end sprayer or another type of sprayer. Water your plants
with it everytime you water and that usually keeps the rascals at bay.
You can use diatomaceous earth powder for caterpillars that you can
see on leaves and such. But bt liquid will work underground for ya.
Just keep using it every other day or so when you water the plants and
results will occur. Also visit www.organicgardening.com for other
ideas.

Carla Goodloe

(Mark) wrote in message . com...
"jc" wrote in message ...
"Mark" wrote in message
om...
I pulled up a bolted spinach plant today (just clearing out that patch
for the next thing) and noticed that there were several VERY small
wormlike critters in the dirt clinging to the root. By small, I mean
they were only maybe 3 mm long and less than half a mm in diameter.
They were white and they wiggled initially but stopped within a second
of being exposed to the air. When I touched them, they moved again.

There was no evidence of rot on the root of the plant, no indication
that they had been eating at the root, and no evidence of a diseased
state in any other part of the plant for that matter.

Are these nematodes? Are they the good guys or the bad guys?

Nematodes are usually microscopic. Probably a juvenile grub. Probably
a baddie. -Olin


Any suggestions on less-toxic ways to get rid of them?

Mark