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Yellow balls in soil

John236John236 Posts: 10
in Problem solving

first of all, hi to everyone!

i was tilling my root vegetable patch this morning and I kept finding little yellow balls (about 3mm dia).  When squeezed they popped and had liquid inside.

my guess is that these are eggs of slugs or snails but can anyone confirm this?

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Posts

  • lydiaannlydiaann Posts: 298

    Sounds like eggs to me - but of what, who knows? Given the amount of rain that fell until 2 weeks ago, I'm guessing you are correct in your diagnosis.  If they are in the veg patch, then I'd get rid of as many as possible otherwise creatures may get to eat your carrots before you do!  I'm about to have a go at my patch (as it seems to be clearing up a bit) so I shall keep an eye out too!!

  • iGrowiGrow Posts: 183
    Is it Osmocote slow release fertiliser? You may have fed direct or emptied some old compost on to the patch.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,553

    I'd go with osmocote too.

    A photo would help.

    Devon.
  • John236John236 Posts: 10

    Yes, that is a possibility, the bed in question is where we spread the compost from grow bags, pots, etc, at the end of last season. Thanks for your replies everyone.

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,212

    Definitely slow release pellets. No pest in Britain has eggs of that size or colour. Mollusc eggs are clear or milky and all the other pests eggs are too small to be seen with the naked eye.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 53,955

    Yes - slow release fertiliser. Slug/snail eggs are also bigger. 

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • diy queendiy queen Posts: 5

    these sound like vine weevil eggs, but you need to google images because they are quite similar to worm eggs, worm eggs have a small "tail" if you look close enough, but if you google images for both it should help you identify which eggs they are.

  • diy queendiy queen Posts: 5

    oh if they were slow release fertilizer balls they would crunch when squashed and not have any liquid in them, I hope this helps.

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,212

    Sorry, but Vine weevil eggs are too small to be seen with the naked eye. Osamocote does have a liquid centre when in damp soil.

    This is a perennial question raised on more Gardening sites than almost any other question.

    Now to really confuse folks the slow release stuff I have been adding to compost to day has balls of almost every colour in the rainbow.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 53,955

    I have some of that rainbow stuff too Berghill!  image

    I don't really use it much but it's handy for pots of bits and pieces that I'm likely to forget about for months....image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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