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SPRAYERS TOPDRESSING & LOAM
Worms
RETURN OF THE WORM...
Ongar Loam cricket dressing and top quality golf and bowls dressings
Order direct from the manufacturer and our distributors
Moreton, Ongar, Essex, CM5 0HY
Tel: 01277 890246 Fax: 01277 890105
www.binderloams.co.uk Email:
sales@binderloams.co.uk
For many years earthworm casting on sports turf was easily prevented by the pesticide chlordane. But chlordane was then banned, and now the problem of casting has returned because none of the chemicals currently used in the UK are as effective at controlling earthworms
STONE BURIERS
his article looks at which species are pests on golf courses, and examines the current situation regarding earthworm control. Earthworms present
T STONE BURIERS
MAJOR EQUIPMENT LTD Tel: 01524 850501
ukinfo@major-equipment.com
WWW.MAJOR-EQUIPMENT.COM TOPDRESSING & LOAM From village green to county ground
Visit our website at
www.boughton.co.uk and download an analysis sheet to find out which of our three cricket loams are most suitable for your ground.
Boughton Kettering, Club, and County Loams are sourced locally and analysed to establish compatibility and conformity. They are then screened and can be supplied dried and sterilised or untreated for construction projects.
Boughton Loam is available nationwide. To find your local stockist of bagged products please use the postcode selector on our website at
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greenkeepkers and groundsmen with a dilemma. On one hand earthworms improve soil quality. Earthworms are important in the decomposition process and nutrient recycling because they eat dead plant material, including thatch. Their feeding and tunnelling activities improve soil structure, drainage and aeration. In addition, their casts are a rich source of essential plant nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
On the other hand, surface casting on greens and fairways is a serious nuisance. It can interfere with the roll of the ball, create an uneven playing surface, damage mower blades, smear across the surface reducing water infiltration, encourage weed invasion and spoil the look of the turf. However, not all species cast on the surface and, therefore, chemical control has always been a blunt instrument because it kills all earthworms, not just the surface casters.
Chlordane
Until the early 1960s, casting was a serious problem on UK golf courses and other close-mown sports turf. From about 1962, chlordane started to be sold widely in the UK as it proved to be highly efficient at killing earthworms. Chlordane quickly became the greenkeepers’ weapon of choice against earthworms and, for thirty years, casting was effectively kept in check.
Chlordane is a persistent organochlorine that binds to mineral particles and organic matter, and has a half-life of about four years in the soil. As a result of its environmental toxicity and its risks to human health, chlordane was banned in 1992. Because of its persistence, chlordane remained partially active in the soil for up to ten years after the ban. However, by 2003, a survey of greenkeepers suggested that earthworms were their most common pest. The chemicals currently available in the UK for controlling earthworms are far less effective than chlordane and have relatively short-term effects. In the last ten years or so, casting has become a major management issue again, with many golf courses reporting that casting is now a moderate to severe problem.
British earthworms
There are twenty-seven native species of earthworm in the British Isles. They can be divided into three ecological groups based on where they live and how they feed. Anecic earthworms are deep burrowing species whose permanent vertical burrows can go two metres down into the soil. The burrow is open at the soil surface and the earthworm will emerge at night to forage for leaf litter, and deposit its casts on the surface. Endogeic earthworms live in the
top 15cm of the soil profile. They make horizontal tunnels that don’t open to the surface, and most usually cast in their tunnels not on the surface. They eat soil, breaking down the plant fragments it contains.
Epigeic earthworms usually live
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