Uncle Marvo wrote:
In reply to Bioboffin ) who wrote this
in , I, Marvo, say :

Uncle Marvo wrote:
"Bioboffin" wrote in message
...
Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:
I dug up a tropaeolum ciliatum
that was withering and near death.
The roots were covered in small white thread like millipede type
things. They were about 1/2 inch long and could move fairly
quickly. They had a small head and many pairs of legs and the
little beasts had devoured a majority of the roots.
An ideas what this pest is??

Could they be Symphilids? See link:

http://soilbugs.massey.ac.nz/symphyla.php

Although this link is for a New Zealand site, there are certainly
billions of Symphids in the UK too.

That's thing I thought he saw. Translucent, so you can see the
alimentary .... yeuk. Isn't a millipede a symphid?

No they are different classes of the superclass Myriapoda.

Diplopoda = millipedes
Centipedes = chilopoda
Symphylids = symphyla

Ah. Still yeuk.

Centipedes are desirable in the garden, because they are carnivores and eat
the herbivores (which are eating the plants). I guess some Symphylids are
too.