Effectiveness of diatomaceous earth against earthworms, if any, is at best transient. Probably a waste of good money. Most earthworms prefer soils of neutral to slightly acidic pH (6.0-9.0), although some prefer more acidic conditions. As I understand it, mosses prefer growing on firmly packed acidic soils with a pH between 5.0 and 5.5. Perhaps you can make a moss garden less attractive by creating an "island" of more acidic soil, optimum for mosses but less so for earthworms. However, acidiying the soil for the mosses/earthworms may be detrimental to other plants in that spot (e.g., the tree your mosses are growing under). There are no magic bullets. Gathering earthworms by hand and removing them, poisoning them, etc., is going to be a lot of work/expensive with no result in the long run. If the environment is desirable for the worms, their population will grow to the sites carrying capacity. If you can modify the environment so it is less desirable for earthworms but good for what you are trying to grow, then you have a chance. If you are in the northeast, the worms you may be struggling with aren't the introduced european lumbricids, but asian earthworms. These are very different beasts. They overwinter in the northeast as eggs that hatch out in the spring, develop to maturity and die in the winter. You can recognize them by having the clitellum (the swollen ring of segments on adults) further forward than on lumbricids, and they are EXTREMELY active -- they can flip right out of your hand if you pick them up. They tend not to burrow into the mineral soil, but burrow through and decompose the organic/litter layer. In Pennsylvania, there are reports of them hurting nursery operations by getting into containers of perennial plants and literally eating up the soilless potting media. No know solution.

Some pretty birds there!

reply to make it drop off the list

These threads are still on the Discussions side, but I'll link them here to make them more easily accessible. Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #1 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #2 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #3 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #4 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #5 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #6 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #7 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #8 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #9 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #10 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #11 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #12 Birds and other mobile features in the garden 2014 #13 Claire