I live in South Manchester and saw my first New Zealand flatworm last September curled up in the loose bark of a tree stump. It was a large adult which I think must have come from a local garden centre when buying plants for my pond. Since then I have found many smaller ones at the bottom of my POND when using a net. They move extremely fast in water.
I found them this yr nr Ayr. Just a couple, but had read some article long ago and remembered them. From all of your posts, laying black polythene is a good trap? I lay it every yr about now to start warming my veg beds, but can't say that's where I found them. Plenty slugs and snails, though, all fed to the birds! Will birds eat them? Will it harm them if they do? I have noticed less worms in my compost and it has taken longer to decompose this last yr.
Verdun, I agree with you, and I would like to make my own potting compost, but I barely keep up with the needs of my beds with homemade compost. And how do you sterilise home-made potting composts?
I live in Devon and have been waging war on these awful Australian flatworms for about 5 years.I have killed literally thousands. I suggest you go out at night with a flash-light, you will find loads of them out hunting,they like edges of paths, and I find turf laid on paths or fallow ground is the best trap.Look under all your pots as well. I have even picked them off the poor worms which once caught can not dislodge them. I have noticed a marked increase in worms and decrease of flatworms this year,but am concerned they have just "shrunk" and am waiting to make a comeback.I have never seen a beetle eating one, but have noticed a lot of beetle activity around flatworm areas.
About 20 years ago I lived on the Island of Bute and found them in my garden. Within 2 years all earthworms disappeared and the soil became increasingly compacted and difficult to dig. I contacted a boffin at the University of Aberdeen and corresponded with him over a few years. Originally he asked me to post him worms which I caught in a sealed plastic bag but as they were so numerous, latterly, I counted the ones I destroyed and reported back. I could kill anything up to 5000 in a year and the numbers never seemed to diminish. When I moved to my current home in North Ayrshire, I scrupulously washed all gardening equipment and did not bring any plants as I did not wish to spread the problem. This worked, until now.
13 years on, I have just discovered one under a bag of compost in my greenhouse. I can't say how disappointed I am......
I am very pleased to say i was digging a new bed yesterday and found hundreds of good earth worms and have never seen any NZ flat worms. I have heavy clay soil and am in Gloucestershire. Thanks for this thread as I now know what too look out for.(hopefully will not get them)
the mucus can cause a reaction on human skin. My boffin advised wearing rubber gloves when on 'safari'. He also advised dropping them into a jar of bleach solution. This also kills and is less smelly than salt water.
When they are ready to reproduce, they develop a lump. The skin splits and one of the black eggs slips through the slit. It looks like a shiny black bead. The egg contains up to 10 tiny flatworms which can survive immediately. They grow on until they split the egg and then go off on the hunt.
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I live in South Manchester and saw my first New Zealand flatworm last September curled up in the loose bark of a tree stump. It was a large adult which I think must have come from a local garden centre when buying plants for my pond. Since then I have found many smaller ones at the bottom of my POND when using a net. They move extremely fast in water.
I found them this yr nr Ayr. Just a couple, but had read some article long ago and remembered them. From all of your posts, laying black polythene is a good trap? I lay it every yr about now to start warming my veg beds, but can't say that's where I found them. Plenty slugs and snails, though, all fed to the birds! Will birds eat them? Will it harm them if they do? I have noticed less worms in my compost and it has taken longer to decompose this last yr.
Verdun, I agree with you, and I would like to make my own potting compost, but I barely keep up with the needs of my beds with homemade compost. And how do you sterilise home-made potting composts?
I live in Devon and have been waging war on these awful Australian flatworms for about 5 years.I have killed literally thousands. I suggest you go out at night with a flash-light, you will find loads of them out hunting,they like edges of paths, and I find turf laid on paths or fallow ground is the best trap.Look under all your pots as well. I have even picked them off the poor worms which once caught can not dislodge them. I have noticed a marked increase in worms and decrease of flatworms this year,but am concerned they have just "shrunk" and am waiting to make a comeback.I have never seen a beetle eating one, but have noticed a lot of beetle activity around flatworm areas.
About 20 years ago I lived on the Island of Bute and found them in my garden. Within 2 years all earthworms disappeared and the soil became increasingly compacted and difficult to dig. I contacted a boffin at the University of Aberdeen and corresponded with him over a few years. Originally he asked me to post him worms which I caught in a sealed plastic bag but as they were so numerous, latterly, I counted the ones I destroyed and reported back. I could kill anything up to 5000 in a year and the numbers never seemed to diminish. When I moved to my current home in North Ayrshire, I scrupulously washed all gardening equipment and did not bring any plants as I did not wish to spread the problem. This worked, until now.
13 years on, I have just discovered one under a bag of compost in my greenhouse. I can't say how disappointed I am......
I am very pleased to say i was digging a new bed yesterday and found hundreds of good earth worms and have never seen any NZ flat worms. I have heavy clay soil and am in Gloucestershire. Thanks for this thread as I now know what too look out for.(hopefully will not get them)
the mucus can cause a reaction on human skin. My boffin advised wearing rubber gloves when on 'safari'. He also advised dropping them into a jar of bleach solution. This also kills and is less smelly than salt water.
When they are ready to reproduce, they develop a lump. The skin splits and one of the black eggs slips through the slit. It looks like a shiny black bead. The egg contains up to 10 tiny flatworms which can survive immediately. They grow on until they split the egg and then go off on the hunt.