What is it? How do I kill it?

Ewwwww... never seen these before....in the garden...maybe came in some soil that we bought? They're about 6" long. No bigger round than thread! What are they? They're creepy!

Freddy, assuming its not a root.... is it some kind of worm? Does it move? In this pic, it looks like the 'climber/gripper' of a grapevine.

Freddy wrote:Ewwwww... never seen these before....in the garden...maybe came in some soil that we bought? They're about 6" long. No bigger round than thread! What are they? They're creepy!

DEAR GOD RUN!!!!!!!!! Get out of there man!

Yes, it moves! We're on WiFi about 50 miles from the house right now....still running!

HA! Its a Horse-Hair Worm. Harmless to people.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgar ... ehair.html

*phew!* I guess we can go home. I'll bet Mom's getting hungry anyway. THANK YOU! My wife found websites that talked about whip worms. I didn't think they looked the same, but she was worried about the dogs. How'd you find the info? Thanks again.

Get a jar full of them, then next time you have spagetti, give the jar to your wife to cook up Extra Protein! Yummy!

I've seen them in Maine before, probably 30 years ago, and I thought they were the worms that moose get. I started my search on that basis, but that was wrong. I finally found a refrence to "Skinny long worms" and that one was on the top of the list. Now we both know what they are called.

Be glad that's all it is. I noticed over the weekend that my tomatoes had stopped growing (rotting on the vine) and the plants were dying from the top down. The leaves were all curled up, just like the Wicked Witch of the West’s feet. I discovered via the internet that the planets had developed "curly top" virus and there is nothing I can do about it but pull them up and hope I can stop it from spreading to my one remaining pepper plant. The virus is spread by these microscopic bugs. The virus is akin to cholesterol in humans but there is no treatment. It clogs the veins until they are completely blocked and the plant dies – from the top down.

The good news is that the soil is not infected so the problem shouldn’t be repeated next year; except that the plants were probably infected when I brought them and that’s a possibility for next year, too. Unfortunately, you can’t tell by looking at them. On the other hand I now have lots of room for my yellow squash that isn’t affected by the virus. Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better. Sigh.

lowfog01 wrote: I noticed over the weekend that my tomatoes had stopped growing (rotting on the vine) and the plants were dying from the top down. The leaves were all curled up, just like the Wicked Witch of the West’s feet. I discovered via the internet that the planets had developed "curly top" virus and there is nothing I can do about it but pull them up and hope I can stop it from spreading to my one remaining pepper plant. The virus is spread by these microscopic bugs. The virus is akin to cholesterol in humans but there is no treatment. It clogs the veins until they are completely blocked and the plant dies – from the top down.

The good news is that the soil is not infected so the problem shouldn’t be repeated next year; except that the plants were probably infected when I brought them and that’s a possibility for next year, too. Unfortunately, you can’t tell by looking at them. On the other hand I now have lots of room for my yellow squash that isn’t affected by the virus. Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better. Sigh.

Liza, my Dad's tomato plants had something similar, but whatever was killing his, stayed in the soil year to year. He was never able to grow tomato plants in the garden again. There must be a powder or spray or something, but he never used it. Start your plants from seed around January-February, then you can plant your own without someone elses' contaminated potting soil.

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Liza, my Dad's tomato plants had something similar, but whatever was killing his, stayed in the soil year to year. He was never able to grow tomato plants in the garden again. There must be a powder or spray or something, but he never used it. Start your plants from seed around January-February, then you can plant your own without someone elses' contaminated potting soil.[/quote]

I guess we'll see next year if the soil is contaminated. The internet sites says it won't be and you know if it's on the internet it has to be true. I was thinking of moving my garden around back anyway. It's currently a small area I'm "stealing" from the front yard because of lack of sun and my kids' trampoline in the back yard. We had to take some trees down out back and my 14 year old hasn't touched the tramp in months so the timing on making the move may be right in the spring. I sure hated to lose this year's tomatoes though. Take care, Lisa

Wow Freddy, I saw that pic and could only think 1 thing.... thank goodness they dont live in water and try to swim toward a urine stream!!!