Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: whistler on December 29, 2007, 17:30

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: whistler on December 29, 2007, 17:30

I was out in the garden raking leaves this afternoon and under a large leaf was what I first thought of as a very large slug.  It was dark grey with a paler underside, it had a kinda hammerhead and a tapered end. It was hard at first to see how long it was as it was well buried, one of my chickens managed to pull it out and it was maybe 5" - 6" long and about 1" wide and very flat.  My chicken pecked it a bit but didn't want to eat it so I put in my council compost bin.   It was not a slow worm or a glow worm.

Anybody got any idea what it is?

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: WG. on December 29, 2007, 17:32

Oh dear - sounds like a New Zealand flatworm

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: WG. on December 29, 2007, 17:33

Check this : http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=100776#100776

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: mashauk on December 29, 2007, 18:29

Sorry to be ignorant (before someone extracts the michael), but are earthworms just common or garden - um garden worms, and what's the difference between them and compost worms?

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: gobs on December 29, 2007, 21:17

Earth worms(plenty of types of) live in your garden soil, worms in your compost live in compost or manure. But what's referred to here is flat worms, who live in your garden soil and eat earth worms. In the short.

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: Aunt Sally on December 29, 2007, 21:19

Quote from: "WG."

Oh dear - sounds like a New Zealand flatworm

Sounds like it to me too  :shock:

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: Selkie on December 30, 2007, 00:14

How wide spread are they now in the UK?

Not sure if they've made it here yet.

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: WG. on December 30, 2007, 00:18

Your wetter climate suits them better Dewey.  They are certainly loads in Ulster

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: Selkie on December 30, 2007, 00:21

Oh no....I don't think we've got any in the area though (yet), nasty things.

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: gobs on December 30, 2007, 23:36

Someone please explain.

This link says flatworm eat 1or 2 earthworms a week, other creatures we have been having around for centuries do eat more in an hour. Why do we need to be worried?

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: WG. on December 30, 2007, 23:39

Because they can virtually wipe out the population and then stay in limbo to strike again as others move in.

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: gobs on December 30, 2007, 23:51

Quote from: "WG."

Because they can virtually wipe out the population and then stay in limbo to strike again as others move in.

Thanks, so that would assume they multiply very fast then, I must have missed that bit. I mean to wipe out eating one-two a week you need a lot of flatworms.

Title: What was in my lawn?
Post by: Selkie on December 31, 2007, 10:35

Quote from: "WG."

Because they can virtually wipe out the population and then stay in limbo to strike again as others move in.

Do any predators eat the flatworms?