Tiny maggots ate my seed!

[mysticserpent]

Six seeds went in the wet paper towel, four sprouted and were planted in compost. Three came up, one didn't... then, one of the three disappeared!
I suspected squirrels. Covered the bin with wire.
Discovered another seed had sprouted, was already 1.5" long and squiggly... planted it, it struggles.

Six seeds, 2 & 1/4 plants. Legal limit is 4.
Another seed went in the paper towel, cracked and was planted.
Four days later still nothing? Gently dug it up again, and a lot of tiny white maggots came out of it.
Wah!
Note to self: sprouted seeds go into new peat pucks, not directly into compost.

My camera doesnt really have a closeup setting... you can see the brown of the seed shell and where it cracked, the white wiggly things are magggots. I hate maggots!!

 

[Phytoplankton]

Get rid of that soil and repot in new soil, chances are good there’s root maggots in all the soil. They can be deadly to seedling are debilitating in mature plants. As much as I hate to say this if you’re going to try and keep your sprouts, wash the roots, before repotting, so you don’t transfer maggots to the new soil. Other than that you could try and treat your soil. If it were me, I’d dump them all and start over with fresh soil. Sorry, there’s no easy answer.

 

[mysticserpent]

Get rid of that soil and repot in new soil, chances are good there’s root maggots in all the soil. They can be deadly to seedling are debilitating in mature plants. As much as I hate to say this if you’re going to try and keep your sprouts, wash the roots, before repotting, so you don’t transfer maggots to the new soil. Other than that you could try and treat your soil. If it were me, I’d dump them all and start over with fresh soil. Sorry, there’s no easy answer.

Thank you for responding, sounds like good advice.

All the soil lol, is about 1.5 tons of sand/topsoil/compost mix. I got a trailer load from a landscaping supply, last spring. So... root maggots in all my containers and my lawn. Good to know. Guess I better find out how to treat them.

Two of the ladies are flourishing, have grown their third set of leaves. Too delicate for repotting. I think I will give them a few weeks to enjoy the last rays of summer, and grow a stronger stem and then wash the roots as you suggest and bring them inside. Survivors are White Widow and AK.