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j_kay83

Mealworms in my house fern

8 years ago

I have two pots of house ferns, purchased about two months ago. I noticed a sudden increase in fungus gnat buzzing around them, so I took them out of their pots and submerged them in water to get rid of the maggot babies.
In the green pot I found several fungus maggots and gnats, which I promptly exterminated. In the red pot I didn't find any fungus maggots, but I did notice it only has about a third of the root growth that my green pot fern has (both ferns have the same size foliage above the soil).
I also noticed that the red pot had quite a few wormy looking insects that I assumed were earthworms (therefore beneficial). However, I re-dug up the red pot today to get some earthworms for a frog and found out that all those insects are actually mealworms. Are they eating the roots of my fern? Should I be trying to get rid of the mealworms or are they okay for a house fern? I've noticed that my red-pot fern is looking a little diseased around the tips while the green pot is fine, and I keep them both in the exact same conditions.

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