Those earthworms keep coming up, How to keep them down? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Rosenthal Gregg

   
   5/1/2013 5:05 PM

   I remember seeing a post of people fighting the battle of daily trying to keep the earthworm populations down into the soil based greens. They want to come up daily leaving little piles of soil on the green and it is a pesky problem. It is especially bad this early spring with very wet conditions and seems like populations of big earthworms are huge on some greens. It is a positive to see them doing their thing as it means the soil is good and all is well in that respect but it would be nice to keep them down in the soil if possible, to keep the greens cleaner. I thought I had seen a past posting of possible methodology for doing this without hurting the earthworms? Want to keep them doing good for soil aeration and such just down in the soil not on top...Also Hate seeing them getting mowed up in the am..
   
   GreggR

   
   
   
   
2. Larry Allan

   

   0 posts
   
   5/2/2013 11:05 AM

   Greg, I've had something out there this spring that looks like earthworm casting but definitely is some other creature. No sign of actual worms anywhere. I haven't seen anything quite like it in the past.

   
   
   
   
3. Ashton Alan W

   
   5/2/2013 2:05 PM

   Larry Allan said: Greg, I've had something out there this spring that looks like earthworm casting but definitely is some other creature. No sign of actual worms anywhere. I haven't seen anything quite like it in the past.

   
   
   Sounds similar to the Rove Beetle... not sure in your neck of the woods, though. They love the wettest parts of the greens an leave a mess every morning for a couple of weeks. Haven't had them on my Miniverde in the ten years I've had these greens.

   
   
   
   
4. Anthony Nysse

   

   1 posts
   
   5/4/2013 2:05 PM

   Gregg Rosenthal said: I remember seeing a post of people fighting the battle of daily trying to keep the earthworm populations down into the soil based greens. They want to come up daily leaving little piles of soil on the green and it is a pesky problem. It is especially bad this early spring with very wet conditions and seems like populations of big earthworms are huge on some greens. It is a positive to see them doing their thing as it means the soil is good and all is well in that respect but it would be nice to keep them down in the soil if possible, to keep the greens cleaner. I thought I had seen a past posting of possible methodology for doing this without hurting the earthworms? Want to keep them doing good for soil aeration and such just down in the soil not on top...Also Hate seeing them getting mowed up in the am..
   
   GreggR

   
   
   Make an application of Arena. 6 months control

   
   
   
   
5. Ronald Conard

   

   4 posts
   
   5/4/2013 3:05 PM

   Anthony Nysse said:

   Gregg Rosenthal said: I remember seeing a post of people fighting the battle of daily trying to keep the earthworm populations down into the soil based greens. They want to come up daily leaving little piles of soil on the green and it is a pesky problem. It is especially bad this early spring with very wet conditions and seems like populations of big earthworms are huge on some greens. It is a positive to see them doing their thing as it means the soil is good and all is well in that respect [u">but it would be nice to keep them down in the soil if possible, to keep the greens cleaner. I thought I had seen a past posting of possible methodology for doing this without hurting the earthworms? Want to keep them doing good for soil aeration[/u"> and such just down in the soil not on top...Also Hate seeing them getting mowed up in the am..
   
   GreggR

   
   
   Make an application of Arena. 6 months control

   
   
   I think Gregg is looking at a less lethal method. Plus, it's not labeled for earthworms is it?

   
   
   
   
6. Stephen Moffitt

   

   0 posts
   
   5/4/2013 6:05 PM

   gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/potter-controlling-10-21-11.pdf

   
   
   
   
7. DeMay Ryan

   
   5/4/2013 9:05 PM

   Gregg,
   
   Check out Early Bird fertilizer from Ocean Organics.
   
   http://www.oceanorganics.com/labelpages ... ybird.html
   
   I hope this helps.

   
   
   
   
8. James Colo

   

   0 posts
   
   5/8/2013 7:05 PM

   Apply Arena at 6.4 oz. / A and water in. It's been my "go to"

   
   
   
   
9. Carney Travis P

   
   6/29/2013 7:06 AM

   You can also try Sevin SL Carbaryl insecticide a product from Bayer, It works very well with worm cast,
   http://www.entomology.umn.edu/cues/cwlb ... evinSL.pdf

   
   
   
   
10. Sprague Lucas H

    
    7/16/2013 10:07 AM

    This should be viewed as an opportunity to make some extra cash as I have done before. Just call your local bait supplier for anglers and they should have a product you can use that forces the worms to the surface so you can harvest them. The local name of the product here in Idaho is "De-wormer" not sure of the AI. Basically the product temporarily sucks the oxygen from the soil making the worms come up to surface but for only about 5 minutes. Catch all that you can and then sell to the bait supplier or anglers. I have never had any damage to any area of the course and have tried it on all cuts and varieties we have here. Doesn't eliminate them but does an excellent job of reducing the casting on the greens. Just an idea

    
    
    
    
11. Brian Minto

    

    0 posts
    
    7/18/2013 11:07 PM

    In the past I have seen Sevin been used, but a better method is using an organic fertilizer called Early Bird. I do not know why, but if applied with some irrigation there will be smoked earthworms the next morning everywhere. Seems to be a better method than insecticides and while I do not know the price I would assume it is not expensive.

    
    
    
    
12. Jason Adams

    

    0 posts
    
    2/2/2014 6:02 AM

    Early Bird will smoke them. You have to give it at least 30 to 40 minutes immediately after application or right before a good rain storm. I would say you need at least .4" of water. Put a wetting agent down like cascade or revolution the week before.

    
    
    
    
13. Stephen Johnson

    

    0 posts
    
    2/2/2014 11:02 AM

    Brian Minto said: Seems to be a better method than insecticides and while I do not know the price I would assume it is not expensive.

    
    Oh but it is expensive, $50 to $55 per bag and at 3#/thousand = $130.50/acre, and that is the light rate

    
    
    
    
14. Timothy Palko

    

    0 posts
    
    5/22/2014 10:05 AM

    I have the same issue. I've used both Sevin and Arena in the past few years as well as experimenting with Early Bird. The only benefit of Early Bird is that you get them out and can see that you are getting results. In reality and in my situation I believe we haven't even scratched the surface of the population when using tea seed meal. Arena at 6.4oz/A works for me, I get about 6 weeks of control with it. I don't necessarily believe we are killing many earthworms with the Arena, it is more of a prohibitive layer that you put down in the soil. It irritates any worms trying to come up and cast so they avoid it and stay below the surface...it's more a barrier than anything. Good luck, it is definitely a battle.
    
    Tim Palko
    Boulder C.C

    
    
    
    
15. James Smith

    

    113 posts
    
    7/20/2014 7:07 AM

    I had an irrigation blow out Friday morning about 30' in front of my 7th green. the area was flooded out from the blowout and when I walked up to it I noticed about a thousand earthworms everywhere they had water. I had never seen so many before in one place. I hope the birds had a field day with them!