What are the mounds on my lawn?

Earthworm Casting or Mudballs

After all the rain we have had you may have started to see little mounds of mud appearing on your lawn or your neighbours lawn.

It may look a little worrying especially if you have short grass but the good news is that it means you have earthworms in the soil and is not something you need to treat as they will stop appearing as the soil starts to reduce the moisture content.

What you can do

• You can wait for the castings to dry and sweep or brush them around the lawn as it will provide added nutrition for your lawn.

• If rain is consistent you may be able to pick the castings up and dispose of them or give them a quick blast with the hose to disburse into the lawn.

• Try not to disburse across the lawn or mow whilst wet or the lawn will be quite muddy and slippery due to the high mucus levels.

• If you have consistant issues outside of heavy rain periods it may be that you have too much moisture in the soil so reduce watering.

To reduce activity

• Reduce the amount of organic matter on the surface so that the worms will burrow down to look for food. Mow with a catcher and rake up any leaves.

• To reduce the moisture levels in the soil near the surface You could top dress your lawn with a high sand content top dressing. This should only be done in warmer months and when the lawn is actively growing.

So this is probably the only time that you will be happy that you have worms.

The benefits are that they will

• help aerate the soil

• breakdown thatch

• create usable nitrogen