Should I get rid of these millipedes/centipedes?

[PashkaTLT]

Hello guys,

So I took some soil we had left in our garage and added it to a few palms (they lost some soil during transportation).

And only then I noticed the soil had these:

What do I do now?  Should I get rid of them? I'm not sure if these are millipedes or centipedes. I read that centipedes are not harmful.

Edited April 15, 2023 by PashkaTLT

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, PashkaTLT said:

Hello guys,

So I took some soil we had left in our garage and added it to a few palms (they lost some soil during transportation).

And only then I noticed the soil had these:

What do I do now?  Should I get rid of them? I'm not sure if these are millipedes or centipedes. I read that centipedes are not harmful.

Millipedes and no, let em' be.. Consume decaying matter and only rarely will consume live material. Very important nutrient cycling organism, even in potted plants.

[PashkaTLT]

Thank you. Should I at least decrease their population but spending a couple of minutes and remove those I can get quickly?

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, PashkaTLT said:

Thank you. Should I at least decrease their population but spending a couple of minutes and remove those I can get quickly?

Where there are a few, there are likely many more hidden producing more  so what few you could remove now will be replaced by others later.  If your palms / plants are outdoors through the warmer months, others will likely join their friends.. Eaten by pretty much anything bigger, so nature will normally keep their #'s in check on its own.

[Lyn96]

EDIT Silas is right, they're millipedes.. 2 legs pr segment.

Millipedes may take a small bite out of the roots here and there and while it doesn't really harm the roots as to volume, it leaves open wounds for fungus or bacteria to get in. I've found from experience that a lot of insects that are said to only eat decaying stuff go for the roots a little bit if there are too many of them. I'd catch some of them and put them outside.

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Lyn96

[Lyn96]

Just as an aside, here's a mother centipede caring for her babies;

 

[Lyn96]

And here is a common red centipede with it's babies;   https://www.pestcontrolincollegestation.com/tag/centipede-sting/

I can't see the legs very well with your pics. If they do have 1 leg per segment they are centipedes. If 2 per segment then they are millipedes. Either way, I would put some outside. If centipedes I'd put them back in the garage, their mom is probably still in that soil.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Lyn96

[PalmsandLiszt]

They are polydesmid millipedes. It's certainly true that millipedes in general mostly consume decaying matter and perform a vital ecological function, but many will also eat living plant matter, particularly if a rapidly growing population is being artificially constrained within a pot and can't naturally disperse. You could test whether these millipedes will eat living tissue by putting small pieces of fresh carrot or similar root vegetables on the soil surface and observing whether they start feeding off them. If they do, chances are they will have no compunction against doing to the same to your palm's roots under the soil. If they ignore them completely, then they're probably fine.

On 4/15/2023 at 5:55 AM, PashkaTLT said:

I read that centipedes are not harmful.

I think I'm right in saying all centipedes are predatory, so they will not hurt plants in any way. Don't manhandle big ones, though, as they can sting.

[Silas_Sancona]

43 minutes ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

They are polydesmid millipedes. It's certainly true that millipedes in general mostly consume decaying matter and perform a vital ecological function, but many will also eat living plant matter, particularly if a rapidly growing population is being artificially constrained within a pot and can't naturally disperse. You could test whether these millipedes will eat living tissue by putting small pieces of fresh carrot or similar root vegetables on the soil surface and observing whether they start feeding off them. If they do, chances are they will have no compunction against doing to the same to your palm's roots under the soil. If they ignore them completely, then they're probably fine.

I think I'm right in saying all centipedes are predatory, so they will not hurt plants in any way. Don't manhandle big ones, though, as they can sting.

Centipedes bite, ..They don't possess stingers.


As far as being constrained, whenever i bring certain plants in for the winter, usually those where there is a higher organic content in the soil mix, i'll find numerous dead bodies around the room where those plants are sited for a day / few days  the morning after i'd brought the plants in.

@PashkaTLT, if you want to keep the majority of any of them out of pots,  place screen(s) over drain holes ( should be done anyways ) I'll cut up extra shade cloth i have to fit the bottom of pots ( over the drain holes ). Do this with everything i keep in pots.. Keeps soil in, majority of the soil dwelling bugs out.

Also, the more you water, high organic content soil mixes esp, the more decaying of those components will occur, thus attracting attention of insects that help break down that decaying matter.

[PalmsandLiszt]

29 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Centipedes bite, ..They don't possess stingers.

Nope. They inject venom using modified front legs, which are not mouthparts and therefore are stinging, not biting organs. Spiders bite, centipedes sting.

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

Nope. They inject venom using modified front legs, which are not mouthparts and therefore are stinging, not biting organs. Spiders bite, centipedes sting.

Nope..


 

[PalmsandLiszt]

1 minute ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Nope..


 

I don't want to get off topic here, but biting is not an action done using the legs, it is done using the mouthparts (as in spiders, which inject venom via their chelicerae), and what constitutes an arthropod mouthpart is well-established. Have you ever bitten anything with your legs? A Duck-billed platypus also has envenomation organs on its legs, and if you are envenomated by one then you have been stung, not bitten. So too with centipedes. They are indeed called forcipules, and they are legs. Which sting.

 

[Silas_Sancona]

Just now, PalmsandLiszt said:

I don't want to get off topic here, but biting is not an action done using the legs, it is done using the mouthparts (as in spiders, which inject venom via their chelicerae), and what constitutes an arthropod mouthpart is well-established. Have you ever bitten anything with your legs? A Duck-billed platypus also has envenomation organs on its legs, and if you are envenomated by one then you have been stung, not bitten. So too with centipedes. They are indeed called forcipules, and they are legs. Which sting.

 

Living in AZ and living with one of the more notorious Centipede sp on the planet here, i've had conversations w/ U.of AZ and ASU Entomologists about them several times.. specifically regarding the "sting vs bite" discussion since some people here have the same assumption regarding the subject  so.. unless you know more than they do,  i'll trust the info provided by them.

[PalmsandLiszt]

4 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Living in AZ and living with one of the more notorious Centipede sp on the planet here, i've had conversations w/ U.of AZ and ASU Entomologists about them several times.. specifically regarding the "sting vs bite" discussion since some people here have the same assumption regarding the subject  so.. unless you know more than they do,  i'll trust the info provided by them.

I have kept and cultured and bred S. heros, which is the one from the Sonoran desert, and it is a magnificent and beautiful beast. Not as huge as some of them, but certainly not something I ever handled without rubber-tipped forceps. At one time I had all sorts of large centipedes from all over the world; S. hardwickei is a living work of art.
I'd be very happy to have long, technical discussions about centipedes with anyone from the University of Arizona who studies insects (which centipedes are not, and they probably mostly study herbivorous pest insects at that, as that's pretty much the only place the money is in entomology), and this would extend to disagreeing with any lazy misuse of the word 'bite'. Most entomologists specialize in a relatively narrow field, and there are very few specialists in myriapods, hence the extremely confused taxonomy of millipedes in particular.

Let us take this conversation, if you wish to continue it, to the Off Topic forum, so as not to clog up this topic.I suggest the title 'Irrelevant, pedantic centipede argument'.

[PashkaTLT]

@Silas_Sancona btw at my bank I work on a project called SILAS - Short Interest Large Aggregation System

Our boss has a son called Silas, so he found the way how to make it a system name

[Silas_Sancona]

9 minutes ago, PashkaTLT said:

@Silas_Sancona btw at my bank I work on a project called SILAS - Short Interest Large Aggregation System

Our boss has a son called Silas, so he found the way how to make it a system name

Is part of my full name, but very interesting..