Just a thought but were the orange creature long and thin and wriggled and curled when dug up? There are centipedes that live in the soil that look like this. They move very quickly and do have lots of legs (not 100 though).
Apparently they are often called wireworms probably because their real name is a mouthful (geophilids)
There is a photo on this page http://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/P7/P742.php It must be a dead one as they move too quickly to photograph.
I wouldn't have thought they would have damaged your potatoes though as they eat other bugs and only occasionally nibble roots. Could it be slug damage?
Wire worms
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glallotments
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Hi Gallotments,
Centipedes are as you say, they eat some of the nasties in the garden especially Keeled Slugs, the little soil-born slugs that attack your Potatoes, so when digging your spuds Centipedes may well be present but are your friend and not your foe.
Millipedes, the black ones that curl up when disturbed, are the gardeners foe and can cause quite a lot of damage. Millipedes come in two types the Common Millipede and the Pill Millipede and they are both foes.
JB.
Centipedes are as you say, they eat some of the nasties in the garden especially Keeled Slugs, the little soil-born slugs that attack your Potatoes, so when digging your spuds Centipedes may well be present but are your friend and not your foe.
Millipedes, the black ones that curl up when disturbed, are the gardeners foe and can cause quite a lot of damage. Millipedes come in two types the Common Millipede and the Pill Millipede and they are both foes.
JB.
Sorry for the delay replying, I must have missed these posts somehow.
The creatures in question were curled up in holes in the potatoes. When I saw them they twisted and turned rapidly. I'm afraid I threw them in the bin without looking too closely. They definately had legs at the top end, although I'm not sure if they had them further down too, and they were orange.
Anyway, the potatoes further along the row were not as badly affected, thankfully. The variety was Rocket. I have just dug some of the next row, which is a variety called Witchill, and there is no damage from anything. I'm really impressed with these and will buy them again.
The mustard seed has now arrived, so I'm going to sow it over all the ground covered by potatoes as I dig up each row, as I don't think it will do any harm.
Thanks to everyone for your help.
The creatures in question were curled up in holes in the potatoes. When I saw them they twisted and turned rapidly. I'm afraid I threw them in the bin without looking too closely. They definately had legs at the top end, although I'm not sure if they had them further down too, and they were orange.
Anyway, the potatoes further along the row were not as badly affected, thankfully. The variety was Rocket. I have just dug some of the next row, which is a variety called Witchill, and there is no damage from anything. I'm really impressed with these and will buy them again.
The mustard seed has now arrived, so I'm going to sow it over all the ground covered by potatoes as I dig up each row, as I don't think it will do any harm.
Thanks to everyone for your help.
Hi Sarah,
You may well find Centipedes actually in a hole in a potato but it is not the centipede that has made the hole. The centipede will be after the keeled slug that has damaged your potato and the centipede will have killed and eaten the slug. Hooray!
Centipedes are very much the gardeners friend.
JB.
You may well find Centipedes actually in a hole in a potato but it is not the centipede that has made the hole. The centipede will be after the keeled slug that has damaged your potato and the centipede will have killed and eaten the slug. Hooray!
Centipedes are very much the gardeners friend.
JB.