Did you know that earthworms can be eaten by predatory planarian flatworms?

We get these every year. They appear to thrive in the more humid, warm summers. We only see them on the surface in the early morning, during the day they shelter within the bed. Not all beds get affected.

We have not yet discovered a way to stop them eating our worms. The first year Lee completely emptied the affected bed and went over it with a flame thrower. They came back. The next couple of years he put pool salt everywhere on the ground and went on ‘planarian patrol’ every morning with a salt squirter. It was a lot of effort for small, if any, gain. Now we just wait until summer’s done and support our worms to come back again. Does anyone else have any experience with managing these critters?

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1 Comment

  1. Brandon Tein

    Never heard of planarians till now. Given that they are slimy a tech approach may work. I heard of a bloke that ran 2 lines of copper tape and hooked them up to a 9v battery. Apparently worked well until it rained and ran his battery flat. so perhaps if you cut some PVC pipe in half, turned it upside down, ran it around the beds and put the copper tape under it. it may work.

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