Will earthworms eat plant roots?

[Beverly]

@Chuck, yes, they are completely gone (root, seed, vegetation), only a small hole where the plant was. That is what is so puzzling to me because there is usually some sign, something left behind, but no.

Those black beetles move so fast though the soil that it is all i can to is catch and squish. I will try to get a photo though. They have the look of a cockroach, darker in color, black/brown, without the long antennae. I think the largest one i have found is 1 inch and the smallest 1/2". I have always thought they must be cockroach related. I have often spotted a hole in the soil near a plant and suspecting these beetles will brush the soil near the trunk or stem of the plant and i see them and they scurry and dive. I have placed DE and cinnamon around the base of the plants.

June bugs, i had to look them up, i thought they were cicadas but i was clearly mistaken. The june bugs and cicadas both come, in adult form around may/june near the beginning of the rainy season. I notice them in the morning usually when it is much lighter. At night there are quite a few things around the lights and i don't really notice them so much. In the morning they are on the patio stones often on their backs. I have never noticed an abundance of these two bugs, but they do come.

What i have experienced with larger plants (suspecting the black/brown roachlike beetles) is that the plant is growing well, beautifully well actually and then what seems to be suddenly, all the leaves turh yellow and fall off and the plant is pretty much dead. I had a fairly large plant (a Choysia) that just up and dropped dead. I was going to pull it out of the soil thinking the roots would be deep so i was prepared for a big tug, i almost fell backwards because it came right out of the ground with no roots. So, some times i don't know there is a problem with a plant until it is too late to save it. I had an identical experience with Passiflora, every 3 years they would die.

 

[Chuck]

@Chuck, yes, they are completely gone (root, seed, vegetation), only a small hole where the plant was. That is what is so puzzling to me because there is usually some sign, something left behind, but no.

Those black beetles move so fast though the soil that it is all i can to is catch and squish. I will try to get a photo though. They have the look of a cockroach, darker in color, black/brown, without the long antennae. I think the largest one i have found is 1 inch and the smallest 1/2". I have always thought they must be cockroach related. I have often spotted a hole in the soil near a plant and suspecting these beetles will brush the soil near the trunk or stem of the plant and i see them and they scurry and dive. I have placed DE and cinnamon around the base of the plants.

June bugs, i had to look them up, i thought they were cicadas but i was clearly mistaken. The june bugs and cicadas both come, in adult form around may/june near the beginning of the rainy season. I notice them in the morning usually when it is much lighter. At night there are quite a few things around the lights and i don't really notice them so much. In the morning they are on the patio stones often on their backs. I have never noticed an abundance of these two bugs, but they do come.

What i have experienced with larger plants (suspecting the black/brown roachlike beetles) is that the plant is growing well, beautifully well actually and then what seems to be suddenly, all the leaves turh yellow and fall off and the plant is pretty much dead. I had a fairly large plant (a Choysia) that just up and dropped dead. I was going to pull it out of the soil thinking the roots would be deep so i was prepared for a big tug, i almost fell backwards because it came right out of the ground with no roots. So, some times i don't know there is a problem with a plant until it is too late to save it. I had an identical experience with Passiflora, every 3 years they would die.

I would lay money on either birds, field rats, mice or rabbits making off with your seedlings. Certainly not earthworms as they don't have a mouth to chew or swallow an entire little plant. I would bet rats because they made off with 30 good sized broccoli seedlings in two nights time about a month ago from my garden. As far the larger plants turning yellow and falling over dead. If this happens in the summer time I would say say it is grubs from those June bugs you see flying around in May/June. And they do eat roots, big time.

 

[roadrunner]

I think the only chance of an earthworm eating the root of a plant is when it's in its very early stages of growth, but probably more of an accidental thing than deliberate thing, but I'm guessing. In short, I wouldn't worry about it. I have tons of worms in my garden and I don't have problems with seedlings sprouting.

I have to worry more about this animal around my seedlings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillidiidae they also only eat decaying plant matter; however, a little seedling can be devoured by them. My fix is to remove all the mulch around the seedling, until it gets bigger, than I allow the mulch to recover the area. A lot of people see these roly pollies (AKA, Woodlice) as pest, but they're beneficial as far as I'm concerned, despite them being dangerous to very small seedlings.

 

[Beverly]

Thank you @Chuck...my garden is surrounded by house on 2 sides and 8 ft brick and concrete wall on the other 2 sides. No rabbits, no mice, no rats (field or otherwise), but birds are a possibility, they are making nests now and use coco fiber from the garden and maybe they are trying out seedlings as a new material or decor. The plants dropping dead with no roots always happens in September/October right when the rainy season is wrapping up. Thanks so much for your input.

 

[Beverly]

@roadrunner ref
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8694000/8694377.stm

published in a scientific journal in 2010. scientific journals do not publish articles that do not have corroborating evidence. Sorry for the inconvenient truth.

 

[Beverly]

To bad no one read the findings in the article. It reveals what live seeds and seedlings the earthworms prefer and this information can be used to attract them to fields, gardens, planting beds, impoverished soils, etc. O well

 

[Rajesh Sethi]

Sound like mole crickets,

They eat other small insects as well as small plants, even whole seedling.

if you have these in soil then better plant seed in a planter pot then transfer to soil after its big enough,
they cleanly cut the root below soil or sometime drag the plant underground burrow

 

[Rajesh Sethi]

Earthworms just eat and poop.
They eat any organic dead or alive, in a way mix organic matter in the soil.

I used to put vegetable peeling and kitchen waste into pot with soil layer after layer and place it upside down in one corner of garden after its full.

After months you will see lots of earthworms poop and well mixed compost ready to use.

 

[Daren]

Maybe they are evolving

 

[roadrunner]

I remember reading a book a few years ago about the worm and the one take away I came away with, besides how incredible this little animal is at moving soil, is that we really don't know squat about this animal.

You hear about how if you find an earthworm up north, especially in Canada, that it's an invasive species from Europe, but that was proven wrong a few years ago. This is an interesting link http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/EarthwormsofBritishColumbia.html

Excerpt:

Until relatively recently, researchers thought that the earthworm fauna found in Canada was comprised only of alien species introduced from Europe (McKey-Fender et al. 1994). However, research has now shown that native species of earthworms are present in Canada and are species that survived glaciaton in unglaciated regufias on the west coast of the continent--on the Queen Charlotte Islands, Vancouver Island and along the northwest coast of the United States (McKey-Fender et al. 1994). Researchers have termed these native earthworms 'ancient earthworms'' (Marshall and Fender 1998). The ancient earthworms are forest-dwelling species found in forest soils (Marshall and Fender 2007).

 

[Beverly]

@Daren or maybe we are just learning more about these little buggers.

@Rajesh Sethi really interesting about the mole crickets. I am not sure we have them here, but it is possible because they are in the south eastern area of the US, still i have not seen these in the soil where i live. Yes, this is good advice to start the seedlings in starter pots and that is what i have done. I will look for the Mole Crickets as i dig through the soil from now on. More and more i am beginning to think, although it could be earthworms, it is more likely the birds who are free to take from my garden anything they fancy.

@Chuck...i am really sorry to hear about your loss of so many broccoli plants.

@roadrunner, you are looking at old research and scientists keep coming up with new information and new studies. Even the study from 2010 that i referenced is a little bit old, but not quite so much. Some older studies hold up well over the years, and some not so much. It would be interesting to see more current data from 2010 forward.

 

[MaryMary]

@MaryMary...nice to see you again ,

Thanks! It's good to be back!
Real life (car and computer) troubles took over for a while, and needed more attention than usual.

birds are a possibility, they are making nests now and use coco fiber from the garden and maybe they are trying out seedlings as a new material or decor.

Slightly off topic, but they do get really creative finding things to make nests with. I had a friend invite me over one spring, her exact words were, "Oh, you have got to see this!!" (And I did. have to see it, because she wouldn't tell me! )

I get to her house, and as soon as I'm out of the car, I can hear her dog barking up a storm!! She had a big red chow named Sidney. She gives me a cup of coffee, we go sit on the couch, and she said, "Watch Sidney." Sidney is on the back patio, calm again, and a little boring after ten minutes or so. I said, "What am I..."... "Just watch," she said.

Almost immediately, a little bird swooped in, plucked a chunk of shedding fur off of that dog, and flew away with it!! Sidney jumps up, BARKING, oh, that dog was mortally offended at being plucked!! Of course, the jumping to her feet, and the ferocity of her barking loosened more of her shedding winter coat. You could see the chunks pop out of the rest of the coat. And you knew...

Sure enough, ten minutes later, after everything was calm, in comes a little bird for another chunk of fluff. My friend told me it had been going on for days; she had seen four varieties of birds swoop in for bits of Sidney. I guess fur lined nests were all the rage in her neighborhood!




Sorry for the hijack, but your thread reminded me, I keep giggling about it and wanted to share.

 

[Beverly]

such a funny story! I can picture Sidney's indignation! It is not a hijack, it is an enhancement for sure. You would think Sidney would appreciate a little bit of help shedding all that fur. I'll bet those nests were really comfy too.