What insect / bug causes these?

[marine_man]

I've got lots of these popping up in my yard this year... it seems like I typically get more in July than the rest of the year, but it seems like it's more than any previous year. Any ideas on what causes them ?

marine_man

[Dave S]

Black Ants?

[marine_man]

By the way... no visible insects when I dig down 1/2 to 1" in the soil... and nothing in the area either.

marine_man

[almberg]

It looks like a nightcrawler midden/hole.

[Big-Al]

Nightcrawler.

[marine_man]

Anything I can do to minimize the disturbance? 1/3 of my yard feels like I'm walking on rocks under the grass...

Thanks!

marine_man

[almberg]

I'm not sure if there's any product that kills nightcrawlers. You could contact a lawn care person, or you could catch as many as you can after a good rain and then run over the lawn with a heavy roller to mash down the bumps.

[Big-Al]

I have not seen a product labeled for nightcrawlers (that does not mean there is not a product) but they are very sensitive to a lot of products. I have seen them dead the next day after washing the car with a car wash soap on the lawn and I have also seen them dead in the garden after using some kind of insecticide years ago, I don't even remember what it was now.

[IcePro]

Fertilizing your yard on a regular basis will help. I have witnessed this first hand on my putting green. When I start to see the castings on the green they disappear after I fertilize, granular insecticide works also.

They are sensitive to chemicals on their skin.

[Dunsky]

I wouldn't kill them - nightcrawlers are natures way of providing free aeration for your lawn. Nightcrawlers also break down dead grass and leaves into nutrients the grass can use. Where I live all we have are earthworms, the ground is rock hard so I am forced to rent an aerator every other year.

[Powerstroke]

nightcrawlers are technically an exotic species that are not native. They digest the duff layer into their own food, not for plants to uptake. This had become a huge problem for woodlots. Trees no longer get their nutrients from the leaves they dropped because worms are digesting them. There are studies showing how worms are damaging to the ecosystem and sadly its because of fishermen dumping their worms on the shore. In short, you don't want nightcrawlers in your yard. Use them for bait.

[Dave S]

My uncle had used an insecticide about 10 years ago that was supposed the be the latest/greatest thing. After it was applied, he noticed a large number of dead worms on the drive way, in the yard and in the field where the majority was applied. A week later, there was 52 dead birds (that he found) after applying the chiemical.

After he found this, he called the manufacturer immediately and shortly after it was pulled off the market. I don't recall the name of it.

This was kind of off topic, but thought it necessary to post to note the effects of using certain chemicals to eliminate crawlers. Most of us have pets that may encounter a poisoned bird or animal from insecticides so they should be used with extreme caution.

[marine_man]

Thanks for the insight everyone...

I'll probably just deal with a bumpy lawn for now... the grass seems to be going dormant anyway with the lack of water recently.

marine_man

[JAR JAR]

Look at this alittle closer...... I had similar thing last year and when I dug in to it there was a single larva in there and another one I checked had a juvenile hornet in it. I got rid of them by spraying wasp and hornet spray on them.

Jar Jar