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Worm Castings

8.1K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  JML  
#1 ·
Can worm castings cause issues with a new seeding project?

Does anyone have any insight into how much of a good thing is too much?

Every morning I continue to be surprised by the amount and size of the worm casting piles in my lawn of germinating KBG seed.









 
#5 ·
They won't have a huge effect on germination. They are also free aeration and soil mixing. If you keep the grass really low, say ~1/2 inch or so, you may want to knock them down with a leaf blower or rake before mowing as they leave spots in the lawn from the mower's rollers squashing them. I have never had an issue with them using a rotary mower, but my rotary was limited to ~1 inch.
 
#8 ·
My lawn had an infestation of earthworms. They are not native to my area and a threat to our Boreal Forrest. There were an average 20 casing mounds per square foot. My lawn was bumpy, grass was getting patchy, mower was jumping around when I mowed. Castaway 3-0-1 solved the problem. It works crazy fast. Within 20 minutes of applying water to my lawn it looked like night of the living dead. There are still worms in my lawn. Just not at the amount before and I'm perfectly happy with that.
 
#9 ·
arrigetch peaks said:
My lawn had an infestation of earthworms. They are not native to my area and a threat to our Boreal Forrest. There were an average 20 casing mounds per square foot. My lawn was bumpy, grass was getting patchy, mower was jumping around when I mowed. Castaway 3-0-1 solved the problem. It works crazy fast. Within 20 minutes of applying water to my lawn it looked like night of the living dead. There are still worms in my lawn. Just not at the amount before and I'm perfectly happy with that.
Ouch! It sounds like you have the invasive Asian earthworm. Not good.

The OP's pics show what looks like the European "red wiggler" which is OK.

FWIW, earthworms are not native to North America. Yes, they can be beneficial in today's human made landscape of hard compacted soils, but the forest did just fine without them for millions of years.