What are these tiny beige millipedes in my ficus soil?

Millipedes and Centipedes enjoy moist areas and it’s the season for millipedes/centipedes infestation. I kill about 100+ Centipedes a day now since they took over my garage and living room.

More than you ever wanted to know about millipedes

Post a link to a photo, please.

If they are tiny and beige, they might not be millipedes. They might be the larval form of an insect, like some kind of beetle, weevil, or who knows. Can you tell how many legs they have? It’s hard to be certain what you have, and what you should do, without a photo.

Photo

Yuck.

They look more like centipedes to me, but I’m not really sure. The eggs were probably in the soil. If they are centipedes (or even millipedes), they are harmless. Scoop them up and toss them outside and replace the soil as needed.

From looking at the legs, I don’t think you have any kind of insect larva. Usually they have six legs, plus maybe some little fake legs (sorry, can’t think of the right name for those things). I could be wrong though, and you’d want to make sure you aren’t dealing with something that could harm your plants.

Try submitting your photo to Bug Guide. It’s free to join and pretty simple to do. They’ve never let me down when I’ve wanted something identified. You could also browse their images to find out what you have. Another good site to try is www.whatsthatbug.com.

@MissAusten your Bug Guide link is looping back to this one…

Oh geez—I don’t how I did that. It’s www.bugguide.net. Sorry!

Ok, in the only similar story I found, the plant owner just scooped out half the dirt and replaced it, so I did the same thing. We’ll see what happens. It doesn’t seem to be hurting the plant, so I guess I’ll just repeat as necessary. It’s just weird that the only ones I’ve seen are dead. Even as I dug down, there were no live ones. Even when I first discovered them a few months back, they were dead.

Thanks for your help, @MissAusten and @syz!

They are most likely young centipedes, because I’ve had them in my potted plants before. They most likely were in the pot (when you bought it at Wal-Mart) before you re-potted your plant, not from the bag of soil you bought. Almost all houseplants that you buy at garden centres or department stores come from tree farms in warmer areas of the country. There, insects often are indigenous to the soil, and they were already in the ground when the plants were potted up for selling, or they get into the pot easily, since the pots are outside under cover. Centipedes (and millipedes) will not harm your plant. As a matter of fact, they prey on other bugs in the soil, and eat decomposing organic matter. However, they are yucky, and I don’t like it when I see them inside the house. What I would do is remove the dead insects on the surface, then water your plant with a very soapy solution (dishwashing liquid or an insecticidal soap that you buy at the garden centre or Wal-Mart is the best). Completely soak the soil with the soapy water. Do it outside if possible, so that you don’t get the solution on your floor. Keep watering the soil with the solution until it is drenched. The solution should be really soapy and bubbly. It will effectively kill any centipedes and insects in the soil, and leave your plants unharmed. I’ve tried it on my hibiscus plant, and no more centipedes!

They’re dead because there was nothing for them to eat when they hatched out. They will cannibalize each other, but it sounds like they all died about the same time.