Hello,

I would like to say hello as this is my first post on this messageboard.

I also have a question regarding lettuce. I am growing a few lettuce plants right now, and I've noticed a pest problem effecting the roots. I have lost a number of lettuce plants to small grubs in the roots that look exactly like the mealy worms they sell at pet shops to feed pets. Does anyone know what these could be and how to eradicate them? I'm growing other leaf crops such as spinach and mustard greens on the same bed but haven't noticed any effect on them.

Thanks in advance,
Alex

I don't know what the pest is, however I think I would try some diatomaceous earth to treat the soil right around the roots.

Welcome! I don't have any experience with the grubs you describe, but live fairly close to you in the West Adams section of LA, near USC, and I'm also growing lettuce. How did your garden survive our Big Freeze and also the drought?

your description might help with color. I have no idea what they sell in stores. you might ask a store.

japanese beetle grubs tend to be white with a colored head that might have an orange tint. and a few leggs up front. there is an organic solution to japanese beetle grubs. a living organism that infects the grub and kills it. kind of good since it leaves more in the soil. I can only guess that the problem will fly away when the grubs grow up and turn into beetles. of course the beetles will lay more eggs and get back to eating roots.

around here japanese beetles tend to be bad one year and then go away automatically for several years. so once they fly away the problem might not return for several years.

you can find all this on the internet.

there are locations on the internet to help you identify bugs.

Possibly, maybe Lettuce Root Aphids? http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r441301311.html

Is it wireworms? http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/PESTS/wireworm.html

I used to get a lot of wireworms and grubs in my garden before I started amending with compost and alfalfa meal (cheap 25# bags of rabbit food). You can trap them with cut poatoes half-buried near your lettuces- it's like a wireworm magnet!! Loosen the soil around the potato pieces and handpick them- I like to pinch their guts out, but you can drop them into soapy water or step on them too.

If you can afford to, buy predatory nematodes and release them in to your veggie beds - that took care of the grub population that was having a party in my garden one year. I stopped counting after 100 in one 4'x4' bed. Now THAT's a problem.

The color of the grubs is a very light yellow/orange with, I believe a brown head. They are about 3/8th of an inch long.

To answer the question about how my garden survived the freeze around here; I had some window screen over them when the freeze came through. I don't know if this is what helped, but they got through it okay. As for the drought, I have a small garden (two small raised beds), so I don't need a great deal of water. I usually can water the vegetables with about three and a half gallons worth of water from a watering can every morning before going to work. The drought will be harder come summer, I will have to choose my vegetables wisely. Window screen comes in handy for scalding hot weather as-well.

Alex

By the way, my bird of paradise didn't fare as well during the freeze. It lost all but one of it's leaves. I sure hope it makes it through.

Alex

Hi Alex. All the banana trees in our neighborhood froze and turned brown in one night. They now all have green leaves, so you should have luck with your Birds of Paradise.

Did you check the UCDavis links posted with the photos?

Hi Cocoabee,

Yes! I knew someone could help me. The pests in my lettuce roots are in fact wire worms. Thanks for the link.
So cut potatoes help attract them away from the lettuce, I will have to try that. Thanks for the tips.

Alex

Hi designkat,

Glad to meet a new member. I have used rings of platic or paper around my lettuce plants to protect from the wire worms. In my experience they tend to travel from one the the next down the row! The collars work. I actually used plastic cups from the work that I cut the bottom off so they were about 1 1/2" but I also dug around to find them with some luck.

Good luck to you.