New Lawn and Worm Problems?

Hi,

The lawn is about 3 months old and seems to be doing well and establishing itself.

I spent alot of hours preparing the soil and finally leveling it. The lawn was immaculate when first laid, a green flat carpet . However earthworms have put paid to that.

They come to the surface and leave their casting, basically cr@pping all over the lawn. This leads to two main problems:

- An uneven lawn
- An unsightly lawn where the cast have been flattened, resulting in numerous muddy/worm s**t patches over the lawn.

Not to mention the damage the dried casts are doing to the lawnmower blades.

Is there a successful way to either

- prevent/discourage the worms coming to the surface and leaving their castings, or

- Killing the buggers. eg does grum worm killer have any affect on them?

And no, I don't need anybody telling me the benefits of worm to the soil thank you very much.

I've read somewhere that lawn sand helps but the small print on the back of the bags state that it must not be used on lawns under 6 months old.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers,

T.

castaway was the pro product - expensive and maybe the way to go as it kills the worms at the surface that cause the problem.

do the likes of greenthumb offer this in their lawn care service? worth asking.

wet weather brings the buggers to the surface and only i think 2 or 3 species of worms cast. the rest are not a problem, plus you want them for soil structure, drainage and to munch organic matter in the soil. fairy liquid which irritates their skin and a broom has been recommended to sweep the worms up when they come to the surface , or letting the casts dry, then sweeping them up or away.

whatever you do, they are a royal pain, but you only really get them when it's wet and they are at the surface.

Come on, you're not seriously telling us that worms casts are damaging your mower blades!

Worm casts are a fact of life at this time of year when the lawn surface is moist and the soil is still reasonably warm. The casts may look a bit scruffy but the worms are aerating the soil and actually doing some seriously hard work eating organic matter.

For what it's worth, I saw a perfect lawn last week: astroturf. Real lawns are never perfect. And where there are worms, there are birds.

Or you could try to make your garden as sterile and lifeless as possible by killing the worms.

Catch the bug gers at night using a torch & put them to good use by taking up Carp fishing