worm kill

knownothing

greetings.
out walking last week,and i came across a field full of dead earth worms.millions, withouth exaggerating. slurry had been spread recently. runoff from dead worms and slurry was going straight into river, as land borders it. any ideas. surely slurry does not kill worms.

Figerty

knownothing wrote: »

greetings.
out walking last week,and i came across a field full of dead earth worms.millions, withouth exaggerating. slurry had been spread recently. runoff from dead worms and slurry was going straight into river, as land borders it. any ideas. surely slurry does not kill worms.

One of my neighbours told me recently the same thing happened him years ago. Spread slurry early in the year, came back week later and millions of snails dead on the surface. Never happened since or before and he can't account for it. Normal slurry, no additives or anything.

I don't know about the run off, if the proper margin has been observed there is little chance; the last thing farmers want is pollution coming back to haunt them.

reilig

knownothing wrote: »

greetings.
out walking last week,and i came across a field full of dead earth worms.millions, withouth exaggerating. slurry had been spread recently. runoff from dead worms and slurry was going straight into river, as land borders it. any ideas. surely slurry does not kill worms.

Possibly worms from the bottom of the tank mixed in the the slurry that died during agitation or spreading - not necessarily the worms that were in the soil of the field.

Af Figerty says, if proper margins were observed then the chance of runoff is minimal!!

Muckit

Will earthworms survive in water logged soils? It could be a sign of the year that's in it. Perhaps the water has displaced the oxygen in the soil?

A coating of slurry wouldn't help things. Either way it's not a good sign. Plent of earthworms makes for good soil and grass growing conditions.

Muckit

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~glauren/earthworm.html

...just came across this. Seems there could be a little truth to my ramblings

leg wax

if you plaster ground with slurry the earth worms will come to the surface and die,i have seen it many times when doing slurry for maze,you have to follow the tanker with the plough.i have never seen worms in a slurry tank and would not like to as if i did i dont like my chances with the aggitator or slurry tanker

blue5000

Would agree with muckit on this one. The worms get smothered by heavy application of slurry on to wet soil. Seen it happen in maize ground one year.

knownothing

Muckit wrote: »

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~glauren/earthworm.html

...just came across this. Seems there could be a little truth to my ramblings

reading the article it brings up a lot more questions, than too much water

knownothing

earthworms are the tillers of the earth, without them it would be like plants without bees, survival but just

ootbitb

have seen this twice in wet years when spreading slurry straight after a silage cut.

have waited for drier ground ever since.