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Worms dying on patio :(

aprilmcdaid73658aprilmcdaid73658 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hi, hoping some experts can help with an issue in my garden. 
Every day my patio has about 20/30 worms on it and they all seem to die straight away - once they die they stick to the patio and become a nightmare to get off (they stick like glue and when we are able to pull them off they leave red stains) 
Does anyone have any tips on how I can  stop the worms coming onto the patio? I don’t have a problem with worms in the grass but we have just had the patio done and the colour of the slabs mean it always looks dirty if there any marks (which the worms seem to be leaving) :( I go out every day and pick the worms up and put them back in the grass if they haven’t died already, should I stop this?  any help is appreciated! 

Posts

  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    I guess the question is why are they attracted to the patio, especially during the day.  Normally they want to keep cool and moist and in the dark.  Are they arriving overnight?  Not sure why they would hang about to die rather than just do a U-turn back to moisture.  On a rainy night, maybe, but in dry weather the patio should be the last place they would head for.

    Does sound most odd.  Are they travelling from A to B and the patio is in the way?  Even so, they wouldn't do this in the daytime. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello @aprilmcdaid73658  and welcome to the forum 😊 
    Are these definitely earthworms or similar (pinky reddish colour) or could  they possibly be leatherjackets? 

    https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/solve-problems/leatherjackets/ 

    There have been reports in the past from other folk who find them on the patio at this time of year. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Photos would help with ID
  • aprilmcdaid73658aprilmcdaid73658 Posts: 2
    Dovefromabove said:
    Hello @aprilmcdaid73658  and welcome to the forum 😊 
    Are these definitely earthworms or similar (pinky reddish colour) or could  they possibly be leatherjackets? 

    https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/solve-problems/leatherjackets/ 

    There have been reports in the past from other folk who find them on the patio at this time of year. 
    Hi, they are red/pink/brown so I’m guessing they are earthworms! We did buy some leather jacket stuff too last year as we had lots of birds ripping up the grass, but it stopped shortly after so then didn’t use it in the end… 
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