Earthworms in pots or in the garden, how to avoid an infestation and remove them permanently

Have you noticed that there are earthworms in your garden or inside your pots? Here’s how to say goodbye quickly and easily.

A real challenge for those who garden is dealing with earthworms that sneak into the garden or plant pots and can even get to do damage. There are those who maintain that in reality the presence of earthworms can bring benefits to vegetation, and in some cases this is the case.

Since these little animals make holes in the soil when they insert themselves and therefore move it, they consequently make the earth softer and more airy, especially when it is particularly clayey and compact.

This can certainly be a positive factor because it allows the roots to develop better. Furthermore, this element helps eliminate water stagnation by increasing vertical drainage. But earthworms also prove to be a problem for other reasons e.g we absolutely must eliminate them and make sure they don’t get close to the plants.

Keeping earthworms away from plants: the simple and effective solution

What makes the presence of earthworms problematic is the formation of earth mounds that they go on to create. These are rich in nutrients they represent an attraction for birds who swoop closer and consequently they damage grass and plants.

But they aren’t just bird catalysts. When earthworms are many and thus constitute an infestation, they attract moles which in turn dig the ground, forming actual tunnels and consequently ruining it.

Even if they seem harmless and even beneficial in some respects, other factors determine the problematic nature of the presence of earthworms and therefore it is better to eliminate them and prevent them from approaching again. If removing them completely can be an almost impossible task, it can be done limit their activity.

Since earthworms eat earth in quantities equal to their body weight and form earth cones rich in phosphorus, nitrogen, magnesium and potassium, it is necessary use soil fertilizers with a sub-acid pH which is placed in a value between 6 and 6, 5.

In this way these little animals will find the terrain unappealing and will stay away from it. Alternatively, another solution consists ofuse of antagonistic fungi. This is how these substances are defined and are usually spread in the soil and used to prevent turf diseases.

Both methods are not harmful to humans or animals and solve the problem of the presence of earthworms. It is also important to scatter the mounds of earth they have formed with rakes and metal nets to make the soil uniform again.