Question
QUESTION: Brought home rubber plant from Home Depot.  Wanted to save it after someone dropped it and left it.  Had leftover potting soil from potting a prayer plant less than 2 months ago.  PP doing well.  In process of repotting rubber plant found 1 inch worm type slithering bugs with antennas or protrusions from one end.  Unknown if from new soil or old soil.  Don't have a pic of them.  Any ideas? Thanks

ANSWER: Hi Deb,

It is probably a type of centipede and is unlikely to damage your plants. If that is the only one, no problem.

If you find more of them living in the soil of your pots, then plunge the pots up to their rims in a tub of plain water. Leave it for a half hour and this will cause the critters to rise to the surface in search of air. Then you can remove them.

Please let me know if any of this is unclear or if you have any additional questions.

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Will Creed, Interior Landscaper
Horticultural Help, NYC

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---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have put the pot in water and yes the critters have come to the surface.  Some look like little centipedes and there are some that look like smooth worms.  I have tried removing those I saw.  Will the rest of them drown?  Will dumping the water down the drain be sufficient? What should be my next step?  Change the potting soil (new bag of soil of course)?  I did this in my kitchen sink.  Should I be worried of problems in terms of washing dishes, food prep?  Thank you very much.  I have been lucky.  I have been keeping houseplants for over 20 yearas and this is the first bug I have encountered.

Answer
Hi Deb,

You may have already done all that needs to be done by removing the worst of the creatures. I suggest that you simply monitor the plants from now on and repeat the treatment if you see signs of their return.

Do NOT replace the soil. That may eliminate the critters, but it will also probably shock your plants and may kill them.

I have no idea what chemicals may have been put in your soil. Probably nothing harmful, but I cannot be sure of that. Just scrub your sink normally and it should be fine.

Lots of times there are pests in soil and on plants but in such small numbers that we never notice them until the environment becomes just right and then they start to reproduce rapidly. Then we wonder where they came from.

Will Creed