A statement was made on the forum which condemns millipedes as bad. Would the author and anyone else interested please have a look at this website before they say any more,especially the rating in the last paragraph, they might just change their mind.
http://www.bmi.net/roseguy/gbmill.html
and many more websites reinforce this point of view.
Allan
centipedes, millipedes
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Thanks for posting that.
I knew one was a vegetarian and the other a carnivor..but could not remember which way round it it. Anyway as both are good guys, I can leave them to get on with it!
I knew one was a vegetarian and the other a carnivor..but could not remember which way round it it. Anyway as both are good guys, I can leave them to get on with it!
I don't suffer from insanity .... I enjoy it!
Vivianne
Vivianne
Allan,
If you were to find yourself in a position where your preferred food was absent would you not eat and therefore die or would you eat what was available and survive.
The forest floor is covered with all kinds of litter and Millipedes have a plentiful supply of their preferred food and therefore in that enviroment are not a pest but outside the forest conditions they do not have their preferred food and are recorded to have caused damage to the roots of Peas, Beans, Potatoes and on my nursery to erstwhile healthy shrub cuttings at the liner stage.
So outside the forest conditions Millipedes do cause damage to living plants, including vegetables, and should therefore be classified as pests and treated accordingly.
If you were to find yourself in a position where your preferred food was absent would you not eat and therefore die or would you eat what was available and survive.
The forest floor is covered with all kinds of litter and Millipedes have a plentiful supply of their preferred food and therefore in that enviroment are not a pest but outside the forest conditions they do not have their preferred food and are recorded to have caused damage to the roots of Peas, Beans, Potatoes and on my nursery to erstwhile healthy shrub cuttings at the liner stage.
So outside the forest conditions Millipedes do cause damage to living plants, including vegetables, and should therefore be classified as pests and treated accordingly.
JB.
It's all a matter of degree. One tinkers about with natural balance of things at ones peril. One has to accept thet all that we categorise as farming and gardening is not natural, the trouble with your posting is that as given it is unqualified. Control is one thing, total elimination is another, too many people don't understand this.
I get annoyed with these people who want Organic and at the same time cosmetic perfection, I am sure our produce contains occasional slug, whitefly, aphid etc., that's one reason that we seal it in plastic bags.
Allan
I get annoyed with these people who want Organic and at the same time cosmetic perfection, I am sure our produce contains occasional slug, whitefly, aphid etc., that's one reason that we seal it in plastic bags.
Allan
I hate to admit this but I'm even having second thoughts on bumping off slugs and snails,I would rather make the area unattractive to them ie:-keeping edges trimmed and the soil clear of hidey holes like bits of wood etc. I've never felt the need to do anything with centis or millis.
I'm getting very reluctant to interfere in the food chain at all,you never know where the knock on effect might end up,just remember who's at the top!
I realise of course that as soon as man started to cultivate the soil he was interfering with the natural balance but that doesn't mean we have to go all out to compound it.
I get very good crops from my plot without recourse to any pesticides(organic or otherwise)and the soil does appear to be full of visable insect life.
I know that this doesn't work for everyone or in every situation but it is possible to garden in harmony with insect life.I think I must be getting old....I'm thinking more!
I'm getting very reluctant to interfere in the food chain at all,you never know where the knock on effect might end up,just remember who's at the top!
I realise of course that as soon as man started to cultivate the soil he was interfering with the natural balance but that doesn't mean we have to go all out to compound it.
I get very good crops from my plot without recourse to any pesticides(organic or otherwise)and the soil does appear to be full of visable insect life.
I know that this doesn't work for everyone or in every situation but it is possible to garden in harmony with insect life.I think I must be getting old....I'm thinking more!
-
oldherbaceous
- KG Regular
- Posts: 14432
- Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:52 pm
- Location: Beautiful Bedfordshire
- Has thanked: 711 times
- Been thanked: 709 times
Good morning Carole B, i've been thinking, and i think your right what you have been thinking about. Nows theres something to think about. 
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
The main trouble here Allan is that you have had insufficient experience in horticulture across the broad spectrum.
Whereas I very seldom come across Millipedes on my cultivated ground and when I do I take no remedial action so they live to eat another root or two.
The point that I am trying to convey is that Centipedes are decidedly good guys and Millipedes are known to cause damage to many plants across the broad spectrum of horticulture.
It is when they breed in the bases of pots that they can be devastating and also to any vegetable left in the ground, for digging for immediate use, that will be at risk. Millipedes will also proliferate damage caused by disease and damage caused by other creatures such as Slugs. So, far from being good guys, they should regarded as pests. What you decide to do about then is entirely a matter for your own judgement but just be aware that they can cause damage to plants whereas Centipedes do not.
Whereas I very seldom come across Millipedes on my cultivated ground and when I do I take no remedial action so they live to eat another root or two.
The point that I am trying to convey is that Centipedes are decidedly good guys and Millipedes are known to cause damage to many plants across the broad spectrum of horticulture.
It is when they breed in the bases of pots that they can be devastating and also to any vegetable left in the ground, for digging for immediate use, that will be at risk. Millipedes will also proliferate damage caused by disease and damage caused by other creatures such as Slugs. So, far from being good guys, they should regarded as pests. What you decide to do about then is entirely a matter for your own judgement but just be aware that they can cause damage to plants whereas Centipedes do not.
JB.
We have loads of both centipedes and millipedes in our garden. Until this topic was raised, I considered both to be neutral - not good, not bad. I have never attributed any damage to them. And never kill them - well not intentionally. I have found some more substantive info on them now though.
'Wood lice and millipedes are valuable recyclers, generally living on damp rotting wood, paper and decaying vegetative matter; they usually only attack vegetation for moisture when conditions are very dry. So co-exist and let live unless they’re really a problem.' CAT Publications
The RHS advice appears to be that millipedes capitalise on the damage caused by slugs and other pests. So if we can just get those slugs under control, millipedes shouldn't really be a problem. I remain unconcerned about them. http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles12 ... ipedes.asp
Carole - you make a good point re the natural balance of things. I think (read, hope) that the scale on which we kill slugs when offset against the efficiency with which they reproduce, means we pose little risk to the food chain overall. Our efforts are very localised too(?).
'Wood lice and millipedes are valuable recyclers, generally living on damp rotting wood, paper and decaying vegetative matter; they usually only attack vegetation for moisture when conditions are very dry. So co-exist and let live unless they’re really a problem.' CAT Publications
The RHS advice appears to be that millipedes capitalise on the damage caused by slugs and other pests. So if we can just get those slugs under control, millipedes shouldn't really be a problem. I remain unconcerned about them. http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles12 ... ipedes.asp
Carole - you make a good point re the natural balance of things. I think (read, hope) that the scale on which we kill slugs when offset against the efficiency with which they reproduce, means we pose little risk to the food chain overall. Our efforts are very localised too(?).
The cow is of the bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other, milk.
One end is moo, the other, milk.
Good evening Chez and Herby,
I hope I'm getting a balance to growing now,it's a bit of a leap of faith when you first stop trying to keep everything under control,I've spent the last 35years in professional horticulture growing anything from toms in commercial houses to producing ornamental nursery stock to garden plan drawing and when I started out in the 70's if it moved you were told to spray it. So I feel I've had to overcome a lot of industry conditioning every time I chuck a snail on the compost heap instead of stomping on it!
By the by Herby,you've made my brain cells bounce around trying to work out if you are thinking what I thunk you thought!
I hope I'm getting a balance to growing now,it's a bit of a leap of faith when you first stop trying to keep everything under control,I've spent the last 35years in professional horticulture growing anything from toms in commercial houses to producing ornamental nursery stock to garden plan drawing and when I started out in the 70's if it moved you were told to spray it. So I feel I've had to overcome a lot of industry conditioning every time I chuck a snail on the compost heap instead of stomping on it!
By the by Herby,you've made my brain cells bounce around trying to work out if you are thinking what I thunk you thought!
Johnboy, let's keep personalities out of this.You made a categorical statement which is always a silly thing to do, in effect it is saying that all millipedes in all circumstances should be killed which is just nonsense. I just asked you to reconsider in the light of evidence which to a certain extent you have now done, that's fine. I don't wish to perpetuate this topic.
Allan
Allan
-
Compo
- KG Regular
- Posts: 1428
- Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Somerset
- Been thanked: 14 times
My last post was placed in order to allow you too to realise that everytime that you have a difference of opiniion it becomes personal and it is acted out in the thread, do you really think it is fair for you both to do this, on the others that don't get involved in the immature tit for tat? I think the differences in opinion are fine, but clearly as people you would not be best friends, please, please, fight your battles with PM's it makes boring reading and spoils good threads.
If I am not on the plot, I am not happy.........
I'm not expressing an opinion on the topic, I just asked the person who made the original statement to look at what the general opinion of others is on the topic. There was no need at all to make this a general discussion.I had heard sometime ago that there was a shift of opinion to the point that on balance millipedes did more good than harm. All that was needed was a Google search " millepedes good bad". I was very careful in my words. Don't blame me for making this a free-for-all.
I completely agree with you Compo. Allan makes a fair point though. He legitimately started a thread, that was going along quite nicely until Johnboy waded in with the superior 'you have had insufficient experience in horticulture across the whole spectrum' comment. Er, just how much more personal can you get? Frankly, that comment applies to most of us. And so what? It isn't a site for 'experts'. If Allan's posting is flawed in some way, other contributors will address it. If it is important enough to them. We are mostly adults and capable of forming our own opinions.
If anyone is set off by another's post, perhaps they should take a minute to stop and think how their reactive responses to it will affect the course of the thread and contributors to it, instead of using threads as opportunities to publicly discredit and point-score any one individual. As Compo rightly says, use PM and give us all a break.
If anyone is set off by another's post, perhaps they should take a minute to stop and think how their reactive responses to it will affect the course of the thread and contributors to it, instead of using threads as opportunities to publicly discredit and point-score any one individual. As Compo rightly says, use PM and give us all a break.
The cow is of the bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other, milk.
One end is moo, the other, milk.