Identifying eggs
Last post 04-07-2009 6:42 PM by Digger. 19 replies.
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02/07/2009 10:13 PM
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- scoobie
- london
- 02 Jul 2009
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3
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Hi
I'm enjoying having a garden for the first time ever, and have been very proud of the fact that up to now all my plants and vegetables have been thriving.
I have a container with rosemary, thyme and sage in it. It has been growing nicely, but this week, in the space of 2 days, my sage plant went from bushy and healthy to basically dead - all the leaves wilted, shrivelled and died. My attempts to revive it did nothing, so today I decided to remove it and found a lot of small white eggs (about 1 mm) around the roots. The other 2 plants are still growing well, but a quick poke in the soil has shown the eggs appear to be around the roots of the rosemary plant too. I have caught a number of snails in the container, but from what I have read it seems that snail eggs wouldn't be under the soil, and are normally in a group together, not scattered around as mine are.
Any help would be much appreciated on identifying and irradicating!
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02/07/2009 10:23 PM
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- sue1002
- Ipswich, Suffolk
- 06 Sep 2005
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5,145
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Do you have a picture of the eggs please scoobie? Slugs lay their eggs in soil/compost and so do vine weevils.
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02/07/2009 10:50 PM
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- scoobie
- london
- 02 Jul 2009
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3
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Hi
Thanks for your quick reply.
Here are some photos:
 
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02/07/2009 11:29 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,740
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They could belong to a poison spider! probably or a snake I don't know how big snakes eggs are but maybe a snake has put them there? and if the snake comes back and finds that you've moved the eggs it will probably bite you with venom.
digger 
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03/07/2009 08:21 AM
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- Pesty
- 24 Nov 2005
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94
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Too small for mollusc (slug/snail) eggs. – Vine weevil eggs are 0.7mm in diameter and although white at first turn brown – so unlikely to be these. If they are eggs they should all be exactly the same shape (usually spherical), size and colour. Eggs do not feed and so would not have caused the damage over the past few days – if there was an active pest present around the roots it should have still been there. I suspect they are one of the additives (fertilizer/ water retaining substances etc.) put into compost at nurseries. Reason for plant failure may be drought or waterlogging?
'Trying is the first step to failure' H.J.Simpson
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03/07/2009 09:14 AM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,740
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so it's not poison spider eggs then?
digger
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03/07/2009 09:38 AM
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- Pesty
- 24 Nov 2005
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94
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Doubt it - spiders eggs are normally laid in sacs - so they are grouped together - but I don't know much about spiders - strange eight legged things.
'Trying is the first step to failure' H.J.Simpson
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03/07/2009 10:13 AM
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- Pesty
- 24 Nov 2005
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94
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They be slow release fertilizer pellets.
'Trying is the first step to failure' H.J.Simpson
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03/07/2009 10:19 AM
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- scoobie
- london
- 02 Jul 2009
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3
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Phew! thanks for you help folks. I feel like a bit of an idiot mind 
As I'm new to gardening and keen to keep my plants fit and well I hope you can excuse my stupid questions below:
Is the most likely cause of such a quick demise likely to be drought/overwatering? I'm pretty sure it won't be drought as I've been very careful during the hot weather. If I have over watered why are the other 2 plants in the same container still thriving? I did harvest some leaves from the sage plant the day before it started to wilt- could I have done anything to it then? The soil doesn't feel overly wet, just moist.
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03/07/2009 01:27 PM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,923
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No idea what might have happened to your plants, scoobie, though those three herbs do tend to like it more on the drier side. A lot of people mistake slow release fertiliser pellets for eggs. A nursery owner I know had her business quite badly damaged when a customer spread the word about that all the plants from her nursery had eggs in the pots and people believed it.
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04/07/2009 12:53 PM
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- Susiq
- Northumberland
- 16 Feb 2008
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1,104
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What is it with people who don't try and establish the facts (as Scoobie has done) before they start spreading such damaging gossip
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04/07/2009 04:41 PM
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- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
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4,740
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In fairness this egg/slow release fert thing has being going on for years, scoobie did presume eggs in the compost, if they were snake or spider eggs it would've been exciting for scoobie, but of course as soon as we see the pictures it's blatant that they are not eggs, scoobie will now know the difference, but there will be more people to come who presume they've got eggs, so if they think they have eggs we may as well have some fun and tell them it could be snake eggs or something until they show us a photograph.
digger
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04/07/2009 04:54 PM
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- Phot's-Moll
- The sunny South coast.
- 06 Jan 2007
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3,333
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So anyone got any pictures of snake (or spider) eggs?
Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.
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04/07/2009 05:15 PM
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- miranda
- Oxfordshire
- 17 Nov 2004
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2,923
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I've got one - http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg218/Miranda_broughton/garden/spider_eggs.jpg - it's one of those spiders that carries its eggs about with it and I saw it here last summer. Don't open the link if you don't like spiders.
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04/07/2009 05:21 PM
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- Phot's-Moll
- The sunny South coast.
- 06 Jan 2007
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3,333
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Oh! I've seen spiders like that, but I hadn't realised they were carrying their eggs.
Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.
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