Due to their slippery bodies, earthworms make some people feel disgusted. The beneficial insects live a completely harmless life in the lawn. But they can also become a nuisance to owners of ornamental gardens. In this article you can read how earthworms live and what advantages and disadvantages they have for the gardener.
How do earthworms affect the lawn?
Earthworms in the lawn improve the soil structure, promote plant growth and attract birds, but leave unsightly piles behind. To promote population, provide loose, moist soil with organic materials. To combat this, remove leaves and spread coarse sand.
This is how earthworms live in the lawn
Food
Earthworms feed on organic residues from the top layer of soil such as
- Mushrooms
- Plant remains
- small creatures
- or bacteria
Tunnel construction
In order to move in the ground, earthworms create extensive tunnel systems. Some of these are three meters long and run both horizontally and vertically. When it rains, the passages threaten to fill with water, causing the animals to move to the surface. Because people only see them when it rains, the name earthworm came about.
Identifying earthworms in the lawn
Although the animals mostly stay underground, they are noticeable in small piles on the lawn. This involves the excavation of the burrow systems and excretions. Up to 200 small piles per square meter are conceivable in a normal population.
Advantages
- Earthworms improve the quality of the soil.
- Aeration of the floor
- Water in deep layers drains faster.
- Excretions enrich the substrate of the bedding plants with nutrients.
- Improved lawn growth
- Attract birds to the garden
Disadvantages
Unsightly residue of excretions
Promote population
In order to specifically increase the occurrence of earthworms in your garden, you should prepare the soil as follows-
- light substrate
- loose soil
- high pH
- moist earth
- incorporate organic material (serves as a food source)
It should also be mentioned that earthworms shy away from frost. However, you have no influence on this natural phenomenon.
Fighting earthworms in the lawn
No matter how useful earthworms are for the garden, the small piles look unsightly on a well-maintained ornamental lawn. If you want to banish the beneficial insects from the garden, the following gentle remedies are available:
- Removing leaves and grass clippings
- Collect earthworms manually after a rainstorm and place them on the compost
- Aerate the soil so that the animals retreat into the ground
- sprinkle coarse sand on the lawn