When I recieved your reply I went to the WEB to look up springtails. The little beasts that are in my garden do not match the pictures or discriptions I found

I am also having a problem with these jumping larvae. I also laid coco bean mulch and after a few weeks I noticed these "jumping worms" after I watered my plants. They are no more than 1/4" long, off-white in color and are able to jump about 9" in the air. Are these springtales? Are they are harmful to people, pets or plants? If they are how do I get rid of them?

Erica R. Omaha, NE

I've had the same infestation since installing Cocoa Bean Shell Mulch from Hull Farms in Wisconsin. They have not responded to emails. These maggots appear to be Cheese Skippers according to my internet research. I've used two different chemicals and have had no success in eliminating the maggots. I am not comfortable eating any of the vegetables in the area because of these maggots. Will the problem go away if I remove the mulch?

I too have jumping larva in my cocoa bean mulch, bought at Menards from a Wisconsin company. Has anyone found a solution? Menards won't help me.

Spring Tails remain the best guess here. Most helpful would be to actually examine some of these insects. Springtails can be found by the 1000's in moist damp soils and like us, do not like to be drowned so they come to the surface during heavy rains or while Plants are being irrigated. They exist in organic matter and it is possible cocoa bean hulls retain more moisture as surrounding soils dry out. The University maintains a plant clinic and a Digital Diagnostic service for the identification of plant diseases and insects. There is an Extension Office in each County in Illinois. you can find yours at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/state/findoffice.cfm

I just had a similar experience with cocoa mulch. Immediately after placing the mulch around a transplanted shrub and watering, the jumping larvae appeared. They are whitish, about 0.3-0.4" long, tapered to a point at one end and with a dark spot at one end. Very much like a smaller version of a blowfly larva, but with less clearly defined segments. The mulch had been sitting in a bag long enough that it started to mold. I have seen springtails and these are definitely not springtails. The larvae must have been in the bag because a skunk had torn into it the other night and was rooting in it.

While not very common compared to springtails, there is a fly larvae that is able to "spring" too. Entomologists know the larvae as a Cheese Skipper. They are normally associated with decaying cheese and meat, they will also live on fungi when other food sources are not available. In reviewing this thread two areas are consistent; moist cocoa bean hulls and an above normal amount of soil moisture. Cocoa bean mulch suppliers suggest allowing the soil BELOW the mulch to dry out to prevent fungal growth and the numbers of insects feeding on rapidly decaying matter and fungi. A thank you here to our Campus Specialists for assisting in supplying additional information suggesting an ID!

I just purchased cocoa bean mulch to reduce the destruction of trees for mulch, and am concerned if the jumping larvae I just saw are indeed Cheese Skippers.

I found the following information online:

"People sometimes eat cheese skipper larvae unsuspectingly because the larvae burrow deep into a variety of foods. The larvae are extremely hardy and can survive in the intestines of humans and other mammals. If accidentally eaten, they may cause a condition known as enteric myiasis, characterized by vertigo, violent abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea with bloody discharge. The fly larvae cause these symptoms by cutting into the intestinal walls with their mouth hooks. Other species of flies may cause enteric myiasis but the cheese skipper is the most significant cause of this condition in humans."

Can they burrow into the vegetables growing where I placed the cocoa bean mulch? Should I switch back to wood mulch?

In order to confirm the insects you are finding are indeed cheese skippers, live specimens are needed to rear into adulthood as it is impossible to properly identify from a larvae. If the problem returns next year, please consider submitting living samples.

Information supplied by our State Entomologist is quoted in part below. "To answer the question directly, I find no evidence of cheese skipper larvae tunneling into living plant material in the scientific literature. Any larvae on the outside of root vegetables should be removed by washing. Vegetables showing evidence of tunneling should be discarded". "...The scientific literature only associates them with animal fat, including cheese......"

We having been buying this mulch for many years and love it! But, we are having the same problem with the "jumping worms" after we watered our plants with the Cocoa Bean Shell Mulch we purchased in Ohio.

This year, Menard's moved the location of the Cocoa Bean Shell Mulch to an area outside that wasn't protected by the weather. Maybe that is why these "jumping worms are present"??? We have never had this problem before until this year.

This is a topic that returns annually to this board and the thread is pretty complete as to how to manage and why Springtails are present. it is all about moist organic matter and soil moisture below.

I also live in Wisconsin and purchase the Cocoa Bean mulch from Menards and am seeing the same problem however the mulch has been laid down since May and they are just starting to form now, not in every single bed that I laid the mulch just one particular bed has a serious infestation. I also purchased the same Cocoa Bean mulch from a true value those seem to be okay for now I'm starting to wonder if I should eat my tomatoes that are just starting to ripen even though I don't see an infestation on those yet

Vegetables should be harvested and consumed. Springtails are associated with dead, decaying tissue and come the surface as a response to the soil/mulch being watered. There seems to be some common connection to where the source of the mulch is purchased.