Horror in the polytunnel

[muck lover]

I have a vermicompost box -they are actually rescue worms and have been living in my polytunnel awaiting better weather.

I think I love them. I nip out for a chat every so often and am glad to see they are getting visibly fatter than when I acquired them.

Occasionally one escapes so I always check about for any that have legged it.

Last week I was checking around the worm box. I lifted it up and there was one of my worms with a New Zealand flatworm right beside it. Horrified, I tried to shake them apart but it was firmly attached and I actually had to scrape the thing off. By this stage I was whimpering out loud (Wormie! My Wormie ! Breathe! Breathe!)

This was like something out of the Alien movies and if I had had Sigourney Weaver there I would have been asking for her flame thrower.

My wormie was looking beyond peaky but it was still moving feebly. I tucked it into a little tub with some leafmould but sadly it didn't make it.
I'm still having flashbacks but the nightmares are easing off.

Here is a little epitaph for poor wormie

Oh Wormie
Saved from a terrible fate
You were destined to become fishing bait
Tucked into a cosy vermicompost bin
You would still be alive if you had stayed in
But you wandered and made an awful blunder
And got devoured by an alien from Down Under.

I may still be a little traumatised.....

[nickdub]

"Occasionally one escapes so I always check about for any that have legged it. "

If that happened then you need to post a few pics, as legging it is one things worms can't do.

Don't like the sound of the flat worm at all.

[muck lover]

After I had calmed down I realised I should have taken a photo. Perhaps legging it wasn't quite the right phrase. Its not often I am moved to poetry. Probably a good thing.

[veggiechicken]

Rest in Peace Little Wormie
Your ending makes me squirmie
Its not good to party with a Flattie
For you will die and they grow Fattie,
I hope your worm mates know your fate
For you cannot tell, it is too late.
Did Flattie almost meet his end
Dealt a blow by your Mucky Friend?


RIP Wormie.

[muck lover]

For the rest of the day I could still see the scene every time I closed my eyes.
I'm not really a sensitive individual. I mean, I have seen things (childbirth, surgical operations, The Eurovision Song Contest) without flinching but this is one of the most horrific sights I have ever seen.

[muck lover]

Rest in Peace Little Wormie
Your ending makes me squirmie
Its not good to party with a Flattie
For you will die and they grow Fattie,
I hope your worm mates know your fate
For you cannot tell, it is too late.
Did Flattie almost meet his end
Dealt a blow by your Mucky Friend?


RIP Wormie.

VC I have tears in my eyes...... I knew you would understand.

[veggiechicken]

[Snoop Puss]

You're not going to like this question:

Might there be more?

(Might you need to take action?)

[muck lover]

I lift pots and troughs most days in polytunnel and I often find one or two of these vile flatworms curled underneath. I grind them into paste. I was reading about them and they don’t like temperatures over 20 Degrees centigrade. I am hoping over the summer this will reduce their numbers if it gets warm enough. Otherwise I am just lifting and destroying as many as I can.
I still don’t know how the worms are getting out of the worm box because it has a board sitting on top. I’ll move them out when it gets warmer.

[muck lover]

If anyone knows any other way of getting rid of these things I would be most interested.

[Snoop Puss]

Rary started this thread as he had the same problem:
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ron_92370.html

[muck lover]

I have read the threads on flatworms. It seems there isnt a selective agent to kill these things. I will just have to persuade my wormies to stay put and keep checking for flatworms under pots and troughs in polytunnel.
Although there is a certain vicious satisfaction in squishing them. The eggs are supposed to look like small black currants. I don’t think I can check through my polytunnel soil for these though. That way lies madness.....

[muck lover]

I tell you what though, after all this I’m looking at slugs as almost old friends.

[Bacchus]

I hadn't realized that those things were here in such numbers

[Aberdeenplotter]

You're not going to like this question:

Might there be more?

(Might you need to take action?)

Indubitably there will be. (had to look up the spelling of the word ).

I had correspondence with Professor Brian Boag of Dundee University many years ago now.

His recommended method of hunting them down was to put a shovelful of soil into several polythene carrier bags and then to place these on the ground around the garden. Thereafter check under the bags regularly and then remove and kill any NZ flatworms found. He recommended that the beasts be killed by immersing them in boiling water. I later found that covering them with a little J*E*Y*E*S fluid disolves them.