# Worms everywhere



## 95mmrenegade

Toward the end of last year, I started noticing small worm mounts, laid down a few rounds of sevin dust and spectracide. Followed it up with a lawn guy laying down his application and I still have an abundance of worm mounts everywhere in my Bermuda 419. Any tips?


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## Ware

Other than the mess they make (which is much more noticeable when mowing reel low), they're not really a bad thing for the lawn. I'll try to remember to upload a photo of mine this evening.


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## high leverage

You don't want to kill the earth worms. They are beneficial to the soil structure and organic matter. If you had a putting green it's a different story.


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## 95mmrenegade

You may be right but they are destroying the grass.


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## Ware

What is your HOC?


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## 95mmrenegade

.500"


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## Ware

That's where I'm at, and I feel your pain.

You can always break them up with a broom. My experience has been that they tend to accumulate over the winter, but are more manageable once I'm mowing 2-3 days a week. If they are dry, the front roller pulverizes them as I mow.


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## 95mmrenegade

When you all across the turf it is spongy.


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## Ware

Mine looks very similar right now. The surface activity seems to come and go at different times of the year.


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## Kustrud

Mine looks just like this, always seems ti dissipate once it warms and greens up.


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## raldridge2315

warm dey weather will drive the worms deep in search of cooler soil.


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## Colonel K0rn

Worm castings are great for your soil! You should embrace them, even though the mounds they make are unsightly, they're pretty much the litmus test for showing whether the microbial activity in your soil is at a healthy level or not. Think of your lawn as being a metropolis of healthy activity like Denver, as opposed to the barren landscape of Detroit.

People pay a LOT of money for worm castings, and use them for fertilizer in their garden. Trying to kill the earthworms would be a big mistake, as you're breaking down the biological cycle for your soil ecology, and you'd be shooting yourself in the foot. You can always just water them in with a short irrigation cycle, or take a broom and knock them back down like Ware said.

https://www.tastefulgarden.com/Worm-Castings-d114.htm


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## Ware

We've seen over 3" of rain this week, so this is pretty fresh activity...


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## Redtenchu

This is a good read on earthworm management for golf/sports turf.

I get them most in the spring and fall.


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## MasterMech

Even on a putting green, they didn't hurt anything. The castings could be removed with a rotary brush or even a simple dew whip, although in .500" turf, a whip isn't going to help any. The castings never seemed to bother the mowers and there was no aesthetic issue because we mowed every morning before play.

They provide fertilizer and free aeration as well. Lots of surface activity usually denotes wet soil conditions. So they come up the breathe and move easier.


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## Ware

From this morning...


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## gijoe4500

How do you clean up the little mounds? I would think that a shop broom or something, would work good to smooth them out.


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## SGrabs33

Ware said:


> From this morning...


Wow, that's is a lot.



gijoe4500 said:


> How do you clean up the little mounds? I would think that a shop broom or something, would work good to smooth them out.


Yep, shop broom would work well. They aren't very hard at all. Just spread it all back out nice and even.


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## gijoe4500

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't earthworms help with aeration? Aside from the nuisance of the mounds, it seems like they would be 100% awesome to have in the lawn. I know I don't have any. My OM sucks, as do the microbials in my soil. Something I need to work on.


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## Colonel K0rn

gijoe4500 said:


> Correct me if I am wrong, but don't earthworms help with aeration? Aside from the nuisance of the mounds, it seems like they would be 100% awesome to have in the lawn. I know I don't have any. My OM sucks, as do the microbials in my soil. Something I need to work on.


I wish I had that many earthworms in my soil. They're a good indication of high OM, and anything you can do to promote the root cycling with the breakdown of OM in the soil via earthworms is good in my book.


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## Rockinar

Collect them and dump them in my yard.


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## Mightyquinn

I'm in the minority here and can't stand them, they always mess up a nicely cut lawn!!!


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## Topcat

Mightyquinn said:


> I'm in the minority here and can't stand them, they always mess up a nicely cut lawn!!!


@Mightyquinn +1... if (or when) they bunch up in one spot, they can do some damage.


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## MasterMech

As much as I enjoy them, I did get some evil satisfaction of running them through a reel. Worn pepperoni! :twisted:


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## Ware




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## Redtenchu

@Ware and there was 5-6 more in your lawn about the same size!


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## J_nick

Redtenchu said:


> @Ware and there was 5-6 more in your lawn about the same size!


"Was" being the key word there. The Swardman ate them up!


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## Redtenchu

J_nick said:


> Redtenchu said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Ware and there was 5-6 more in your lawn about the same size!
> 
> 
> 
> "Was" being the key word there. The Swardman ate them up!
Click to expand...

Yuuuuummmmmy!


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## raldridge2315

Plenty of worm activity last night.


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## pennstater2005

I have a fair amount of worms typically but because I mow high, between 3-4", I never see them. I just feel them underfoot when I'm walking across the lawn.


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## J_nick

I've never givin worms much credit for the aerification they do for us. They have been going to town on my lawn over the last few weeks.

During my renovation I did quite a bit of dirt work and destroyed their tunnel system through my yard. If it rained hard at all I would have standing water in a few places but they would drain within a couple hours. Tonight we had just under 1" of rain within an hours time. As soon as it let up enough for me not to get soaked I went and checked the spots that held water last summer. Nothing, absolutely no standing water. Good job little guys, keep on keepin on :thumbup:


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## raldridge2315

J_nick said:


> I've never givin worms much credit for the aerification they do for us.


 :thumbup:


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## thegrassfactor

Ware said:


> From this morning...


Helluvan aeration! Topdress it and run with it!

They're plugging and sanding .185" tifdwarf up my way right now


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## raldridge2315

[/quote]

Helluvan aeration! Topdress it and run with it!

[/quote]

+1 !!!


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## Redtenchu

Good video on the subject.

https://youtu.be/AZbVKtd9MsU


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## Colonel K0rn

Redtenchu said:


> Good video on the subject.


Very interesting video, and a cute researcher  Sounds like more sand = more castings, but not conclusive lol


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## Ware

Redtenchu said:


> Good video on the subject...


Pretty cool. The location in the video is where they host their Turf Field Day each year. I think an update on this study was in one of the tracks last year. July 25th is the date this year. :thumbup:


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## Gibby

Ran across this, this morning...


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## Ware

This is getting annoying. These are all new since mowing Saturday afternoon.


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## Gibby

Ware said:


> This is getting annoying. These are all new since mowing Saturday afternoon.


What about using a cheap robot vacuum, like those chinese knock offs that are under $100 and mounting some broom bristles to it or a door brush seal?


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## Braves4-me

I have Earthworms everywhere and they not pretty in the Lawn


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## Greyleafspot

mole crickets?


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## cglarsen

Maybe because our soil has been soaked in the southeast there's more worm activity coming up for air? When they are on the concrete you know all of the soil pore space is full of water.


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## craigdt

I don't usually jump over to the Warm Season section (you guys actually want bermuda and zoysia? weird)
You all have such beautiful, flat yards that I can't even imagine in my wildest dreams.

Anyways, this thread has some good information. Thought I'd OST this one.


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## Bermuda_Newbie

Ware said:


> From this morning...


This picture (I know it's from a long time ago) makes me feel so much better about my yard. The worm castings are terrible. Between that and the dog poop, my yard is a mess. I can't wait until it dries out and I can sweep them to break them up. At least that's the plan!


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## Kicker

i wish i had earthworm problems.

Do applications for killing/preventing grubs not affect earthworms?


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