A pest we cant identify is destroying our garlic!
West Yorkshire,
United Kingdom 
The leaves on a couple of our autumn planted garlic cloves was yellowing, on inspection, one of the affected bulbs had what i can only describe as small white centipedes with small brown spots along their backs...they werent maggots, they had lots of legs, and 'feelers' What could they be, and will they infect the rest of the crop? The roots had been dessimated. (we left them in a tub as forrage for the birds!)
23 Feb, 2011
Answers
they sound like millipedes, they will eat plant material.
23 Feb, 2011
Millipedes usually only eat dead plant material, though. It is possible that some rot killed the garlic, then the millipedes went to work.
23 Feb, 2011
Since posting, weve lost two more garlic, but, we've found what it is....its a millipede.....we found loads of them! Its the spotted snake millipede. EEK! any ideas how we can erradicate them? I tend to shy away from pesticides etc, as we have grass snakes, toads and frogs on there! Thanks for your advice! It is appreciated!
4 Mar, 2011
Thank goodness we don't seem to have any of them in our garden; I have never even heard of them before. The web does say, though, that the plant must have been diseased or damaged befrore these millepedes came in. They are an indicator of a problem, not the problem itself.
4 Mar, 2011
To the original poster:
My garlic started to noticeably yellow from bottom to top recently as well, so I dug a bulb up to check it, and I have the same problem!!!! They look like tiny little multi-legged whitish insects, with feelers. Help! Did you find a way to get rid of them???
4 Jul, 2013
This sounds rather like the Leaf Moth larvae which affects onion type crops. You should also check the web for Allium Leaf Miner which is a relative newcomer and affecting crops in the Midlands. I have just had a quick look but can't find pictures of either.
23 Feb, 2011