I think when I purchased my home over two decades ago, I made a large mistake. I had decided to condition the soil by adding worms. But, the kind of worms I purchased, were very large Earth Worms. As I sit here today, those worms, have mulitplied beyond belief. They build little "dome" like earth mounds throughout my lawn area, and make walking across the lawn, feel like navigating across a waffle iron.
To add insult to injury, the worms, seem to have attracted a small polulation of Moles. So, I have treated the lawn 3 times in the last
6 weeks with Ortho Lawn and Pest, trying to get rid of the Earth Worms, and thus eliminate the food source for the Moles.
Somehow, I think I have this wrong. . .Because the Lawn and Pest treatment, only seems to be a slight remedy to the problem of getting rid of the problem. . .I still have tons of worms.
Yeah.....stop trying to remedy your "mistake" with poison. Worms just happen to be good for the soil, which by the way is being depleted at an alarming rate. Have you ever considered how much food a stinking manicured lawn could produce?
Poisoned worms kill birds. Poison kills babies and harms all sorts of living creatures, including you.
How's the real estate business going, heh heh? Maybe you could shift over to a bait shop business.
Worms and moles are a hell of a lot more important than lawns.
Charlie, Friend of EarthWorms, Moles and Other Living Creatures
Interestingly, I had an uncle back in Kansas, who had a vacant lot next to his home, which once had housed a bait shop. The bait shop was long gone, but apparently the earth worms remained. And yes, he had a sign nailed to the tree, that he sold worms;-)
The real estate business has slowed significantly, which for me, has been ok, since I welcome the slowdown, and available time to spend out in the garden. But, I worry about a lot of folks who are hurting out there, because of some of the mortgage predicaments they are in.
I tend to agree with you about the poisoning of critters. It's not generally my thing. . .But if you could see what these varmints are doing to my lawn, you wouldn't believe it. It looks like a mine field
- after the mines blew up!
I was hoping to "part out" these Earth Worms, and replace with Red Worms instead!
Wow. I'm curious. That Ortho product came with not only a label, but probably one which folded out to reveal at least one more "page", maybe two. In those instructions, which by law are very specific, did it mention using the product to kill worms?
The Ortho product, mentioned fleas, ants, earwigs, and grubs. . .It did not mention worms. I guess I was hoping that the worms would be close enough cousins to the grubs, and take the bait;-)
However, I notice if I go out on the lawn with the hose on high power stream, I can knock down the little dome things the worms are making, and sometimes in the process, a few worms will surface, and I will collect them up, and dispose of them. There is one section of the lawn, that seems slightly improved because of this process. I also suspect that the treatment is affecting some of the worms, but definitely not all of them.
I haven't really seen a product that is "worm" specific.
You're a long way from home,Dorothy.......too bad. ;-) Midwest is good livin'.
It's only to be worse, much worse, as I am sure you realize. Hurting is not an adequate descriptor for what many are, and will experience as a result of the predatory lending practices that *were* rampant. People are hurting, hurting badly, as a result of greed. And belief in the "American Dream".
Honestly, I couldn't care less what your, or anyone's, lawns look like. Manicured lawns are outdated; a relic from times long gone and reminiscent of fuedal times, and an environmental disaster.
Good. Please don't do that again, unless you receive a letter signed by several thousand complete strangers, who say they're OK with drinking the stuff you treat your lawn with. You have no idea whose water supply the stuff ends up in eventually. But it does end up somewhere.
the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. In the first edition, ignore pages 40 and 41, where there are some typos, and learn what you are dealing with. Reducing your ignorance will be a great advantage for you.
You know something Joe - I had those very same thoughts a few days ago! I thought, this lawn thing is a real pain. If I didn't have a lawn, I wouldn't need a lawn guy, and I could do something else with the area!. . .I don't know what - but something! However, I'm not quite ready for that artificial turf stuff.
something I wrote and posted over in alt.home.lawn.garden last week and not well received. just wondering how many will I piss off over here?
begin repost:
something you said here caught my eye, "not thinking beyond their own yard" it's a sad sad truth concerning the self centered need for satisfying ones own desires.
today in america peoples desire for the lush thick mono turf type green lawn has produced an environmental hazard just beginning to unfold and tell it's story. current trends have the 100' by 100' lawn receiving more herbicides, insecticides and chemical fertilizers than the typical farmer applies to an acre of land. further contributing to the unfolding disaster in the making is how neighborhood lawns are totally unregulated with regard towards runoff which sends these chemicals directly into the water supply.
"not thinking beyond their own yard"
here in central NC we are experiencing one heck of an on going drought. water restrictions have been in place now for several months and just recently tighter restrictions went into place allowing for lawns to be watered only one day a week.
an article appearing in today's N&O presented an excellent exemplification of peoples selfish stupidity when it comes to "not thinking beyond their own yard".
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ok, stepping down from my portable soapbox for a moment lets give consideration to the aspects of having a nice lawn while thinking beyond our own yard. first consideration should be for shared resources such as water. when a drought such as the one we are experiencing here in NC severely limits the amount of water available to the local population, priorities of importance need to be established. a simple question should be put forth and that is, how long can you the human continue without water to sustain your body? which is really more important, water to drink or water to irrigate a lawn?
I full well realize I'm only a simple country boy, semiliterate, uneducated and therefore hardly qualified to render an answer to the above stated question concerning the important uses of water when it's availability is severely limited. but do consider this, after you've died from dehydration will you be able to visually appreciate the lust green well irrigated lawn? duh!
the vast majority of lawn owners are totally unaware of the organic alternatives available today. they instead waddle into the local big box store and being the quadruple chin porker beast they are see grub control product and make the purchase without ever reading the label or seeing the words Merit or Dylox. even worse is how they'll apply the product without reading the application instructions contained on the product labeling. how many times in this very forum have we seen the question, "how much should I apply" followed by Eggs saying "did you read the label?" and to further exemplify the disaster in the making we're expecting a population of quadruple chin porker beast creatures who can't even feed themselves a correct portion to figure out how to apply 2.5 pounds of product evenly over 100 square feet of lawn! get real, it just ain't going to happen...
> ok, stepping down from my portable soapbox for a moment lets
As you can see by the hour of this posting, this whole problem has kept me from sleeping tonight. I think I'll take Billy's idea, and visit the library tomorrow. "Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web" by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. In the first edition, ignore pages 40 and 41.
Side trip: Here's a news story about how chemicals move underground and affect other people. Although this might be considered an extreme example because of the concentrations involved, it's really not. The EPA now considers homeowners and golf courses to be the worst offenders, in terms of contaminating groundwater with all sorts of chemicals. It used to be industry.
You realize there is a difference in chemicals..some, as in the article are used for dry cleaning and apparently move well through the soil where others are made to bind to the soil and not move so much for they wouldn't be very effective insecticides if they quickly moved off when put out...
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