CENTIPEDE

 

Centipedes function as both beneficials and pests in your vegetable garden. They’re beneficials because they eat soft bodied pests and they’re pests because they can feed on the roots of asparagus, cucumber, lettuce, radish and tomato, and they eat beneficials such as spiders and earthworms. Centipedes should be kept away from worm farms.

 

How do I attract centipedes or keep them away?

 

Having a few centipedes in your garden is beneficial but they can become pests when there are too many of them in one place. To be safe, remove moist dead leaves that are lying around and the centipedes will look for other damp areas.

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Help, I see swarms of centipedes on my soil!

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If you’re overrun by centipedes and you’ve cleared out all your dead leaves lying around your veggie garden, try this:  

Mix 1 tbsp. of biodegradable liquid dish soap with 1 cup of vegetable oil. To make the spray use 1 tablespoon of oil mixture with 1 cup water and shake well before spraying on the centipedes. This will not harm the plant.

 

Factoids

 

Centipedes have large claw-like structures that contain a venom gland they use to paralyze victims such as worms, spiders and small vertebrates before they eat them. Centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment. No, not one hundred!