Please ID soil-living creature
 

found in abundance in my soil (Midlands).

I would appreciate identification, and even more importantly, advice
whether it is benign, harmful of neutral to my organic gardening.

Should I
(a) greet it with kind words as I do earthworms and ladybirds
(b) stamp on it
(c) ignore it

picture http://tinypic.com/2cngya

Jiri Borsky

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 11:38:03 +0000, Jiri Borsky
wrote:

found in abundance in my soil (Midlands).

I would appreciate identification, and even more importantly, advice
whether it is benign, harmful of neutral to my organic gardening.

Should I
(a) greet it with kind words as I do earthworms and ladybirds
(b) stamp on it
(c) ignore it

picture http://tinypic.com/2cngya

It's a centipede - one of your best friends!

As a general rule, if it moves fast it's good, if it moves slow, it's
bad.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"Jiri Borsky" wrote in message
...
found in abundance in my soil (Midlands).

I would appreciate identification, and even more importantly, advice
whether it is benign, harmful of neutral to my organic gardening.

Should I
(a) greet it with kind words as I do earthworms and ladybirds
(b) stamp on it
(c) ignore it

picture http://tinypic.com/2cngya

Jiri Borsky

It appears to be a millipede, they normally are vegetarians so I suppose it
may be regarded as a pest but as I don't know exactly what they eat I would
stay your hand for someone to come in with more precise info!

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 10:59:40 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:


"Jiri Borsky" wrote in message
...
found in abundance in my soil (Midlands).

I would appreciate identification, and even more importantly, advice
whether it is benign, harmful of neutral to my organic gardening.

Should I
(a) greet it with kind words as I do earthworms and ladybirds
(b) stamp on it
(c) ignore it

picture http://tinypic.com/2cngya

Jiri Borsky

It appears to be a millipede, they normally are vegetarians so I suppose it
may be regarded as a pest but as I don't know exactly what they eat I would
stay your hand for someone to come in with more precise info!

Millipedes have 2 pairs of legs per body segment - and if you don't
fancy counting them, just look for the 'tail' which the centipede
has but the millipede does not.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk