[SorchaBC]

Hey all, sorry I've not been here much after signing up. Between the garden and the animals we've had our hands far too full of late! We're back down to 3 animals now, so a bit of breathing space!

So everything's been romping along, and I've had successes so far with seeds I had given up hope on. Yesterday though I noticed that one of my young rhubarb plants had these weird little guys in the soil. I'd put photos up but it means charging the camera, taking out the macro lenses etc so if I may I'll describe them first and then if all else fails I'll take pics.

They're about the size of a grain of rice, and see through. They appear to be ingesting the soil, as they have a little dark thread of soil through their little bodies. They mainly appear where the stalks actually enter the soil, and burrow into the soil like lightening! So far they've caused the two original leaves off one of the rhubarb seedlings to drop off, though the true leaves seem unaffected so far. They're on two rhubarb seedlings, and six sweetcorn seedlings, and nothing else seems effected (I've removed these plants from the general plant population until I know what I'm dealing with).

Any ideas on what on earth these little dudes are would be great, and how I can get rid of them if they're trouble! I'm working really hard on keeping the whole garden organic so please no chemical suggestions.

Thanks and much loves to all in garden land

[sillydad]

have look here sciarid fits the profile
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ladybirdplantcare.co.uk/images/photos/sciarid_larva.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ladybirdplantcare.co.uk/SoilPests.htm&usg=__55pB6mwthTMgyyS1wtASuRWu1Ck=&h=139&w=140&sz=6&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=TB_MNTsZTuT01M:&tbnh=92&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSciarid%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26tbs%3Disch:1

[SorchaBC]

Grrrrr that looks like the little beggers alright! Thanks a million sillydad, will start looking into ways to start my evil bug genecide without poisoning ourselves and the animals

[sillydad]

no probs enjoy