Scientists find Earthworms eat live seeds and plants
David Fenwick Snr. (Thu, 27 May 2010 16:38:09 PDT)

Just read that Earthworms eat live seeds and plants on the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/…

Quite an interesting read. I've been saying earthworms should be considered
pests for a while so it's nice someone has finally come along and said that
earthworms may not be as beneficial as we think they are.

The problems I had with worms were With Tulbaghia. I've always been of the
opinion that there are two problems.

1/ Compaction of the organic growing media caused by the earthworms when
growing Tulbaghia in pots leading to lack of oxygen to the roots, creating
anaerobic conditions, which cause dieback or rot.

2/ Competition for space within the pot, as Tulbaghia are serious rooters,
thus I thought worms may be attacking the root system.

After seeing this article I now realise that the roots might actually have
been eaten by worms, and worms may have a liking for the genus. This would
also account for losses of plants that were grown in the open ground also.

I cannot see how this will have an impact on anyone or on how we grow our
plants; but it does give us a better understanding of how things work and
what goes on, and might explain a sudden or unusual plant loss with another
bulbous genera.

It must be noted that I never used sand in the compost mix for any of my
containerised Tulbaghia; just goes to show that I should have done. Well we
all learn by our mistakes.

Best Wishes,
Dave