Topic: Good or bad???

[vikidivit]

Hi there

Could someone please identify a creature I have found while turning my beds on the allotment.  Have only had allotment since last year and so i'm still learning good and bad bugs, so any help would really be appreciated.

The bugs i've found are upto about 2inch in length, very thin with many legs and are completely orange.   They have appeared when i've been turning and breaking up the soil.  As they were quite fast and extremely flexible creatures I thought they might be centipedes but the pictures i've found don't look the same.

Can anyone help a rather green novice??? ???

 

[valmarg]

The orange insects you have found are centipedes, and are beneficial, i.e., good insects.

A short 'rule of thumb' is that if an insect moves fast it is 'good', if it moves slow it is 'bad'.

valmarg

[manicscousers]

hi, vikidivit, welcome to the site  ;D
we've found lots of these this week, been turning the compost heap  :)

[saddad]

Welcome to the site Vikidivit...
to elaborate on the rule of thumb...
fast things eat other insect/animals (pests)
slow things eat vegetables   that don't run away...  ;D

[thifasmom]

yep sounds like centipedes to me haven't got a piccy for you to compare they are generally to quick to photograph ;D ;D

[vikidivit]

Thanks all for your help.

Had a crisis of confidence after sieving entire carrot bed to remove stones and finding lots of these bugs (which I told my husband were centipedes and to leave in the bed) when my mum said she thought they might be something else.

Anyway glad I was right to chuck em back!

Cheers again

Viki