This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Talkback: New Zealand flatworms
gailms
Posts: 2
I have a cert in horticulture studied in 1993 in west lothian, while there I became aware of the problem that we have in britain with the new zealand flat worm. I recently bought a house and found one in the garden under a plant pot, since then whilst digging and creating I have not found or see one earth worm !!!!!!!! and today while raking up some bark chippings found 2 cocoons HELP
0
Posts
I did read somewhere that beetle larvae eat flatworms and have started log piles all over the gardn. I'm in the clyde valley
New Zealand flatworms are here to stay unfortunately. They have become widespread throughout the British Isles and there is no treatment that I know of. They live underground chasing along the earthworm tunnels which can go quite deep. The only thing to do is to manage them by capture and kill methods and encourage predatory beetles as stated in the article and above comments. Encouraging earthworm to reproduce more with plenty of manure and compost helps to achieve an equilibrium of sorts but vigilance is always needed.
New Zealand flatworms are here to stay unfortunately. They have become widespread throughout the British Isles and there is no treatment that I know of. They live underground chasing along the earthworm tunnels which can go quite deep. The only thing to do is to manage them by capture and kill methods and encourage predatory beetles as stated in the article and above comments. Their egg sacks are shiney black balls that harbour a number of young ones so they need to be disposed of as well. Encouraging earthworm to reproduce more with plenty of manure and compost helps to achieve an equilibrium of sorts but vigilance is always needed.
Does anyone feel as I do about, not just these flat worms, but all the other 'imported' pests and diseases, that the powers that be, that are meant to be keeping a vigilent eye on imported plants, trees etc are not doing a very good job! There has been so many plant devasting problems that it is hard to name them all, the one that sticks in my mind is this oak killing moth, not only is it eating its way through whats left of our oak trees it is toxic to humans, animals, land and crops, and could be fatal. Nothing seems to kill these things and they multiply at a rate of knots. You can google it the info is scarey! At the moment the authorities are squabbling over whos responsible and who is going to foot the bill, in the meantime these things have eaten another oak forest! These trees were fetched in by a london coucil, from a broad, probabley to save a few quid, but now someone is going to be faced with a bill for millions to get them under control, do we not have fantastic tree growing nurseries here, of course we do, so why are they not being used... I think they should do as they do to with imported animals, and quarrentine plants for a while so they can be sure they are not harboring unwanted problems, but what about buying over the net!!
Phew!! rant over, but I do feel passionate about this subject, and although there are many beautiful plants world wide that we would love, are they worth it at the sacrifice of our own nartural plants...
Sorry meant oak killing caterpillar that are the most toxic, though they do turn into moths, of course.
i have confirmed flatworms in my garden, and today have been horrified to find loads more under black weed-control matting. There are also little clear-ish worms with colours inside very near to them and I'm not sure if they are babies. I hope not!
We live in the Highlands of Scotland, above Inverness and i desperately need to try and destroy them, so i can get some earthworms back into the garden. Have you any ideas for me?
From Gill Spooner