Soil infested with a lot of worms

Hello,

I am just getting started wanting to plant a few herbs: thym+rosemary+tarragon.
I just started digging to remove old grass roots and I noticed that there are a LOT of worms in my soil. Something like 10 worms every 50*50cm of surface!!
See attached photo:

What are those? How do I get rid of them. I don't think I start growing anything in these conditions... Please help!

 

I think they might be leather jackets.

 

Omg yes it looks exactly like this with the two white lines (not clearly visible on my photo)!! Thanks a lot. I will try to find a solution that does not involve spraying any industrial chemical products.

 

Starlings love them I believe.

 

If you can't find Starlings, try nematodes. Expensive, but apparently worth every penny. I have used nematodes on vine weevils and they just disappeared in two years and never came back.

 

Thank you for the tip!
I ordered some nematodes.
It has not rained for a while though and I am reading that the soil must be humid for better results.
Until then, it looks like those larvae don't like being exposed to the sun. Just by plowing the soil a couple of time during the day, I see them larvae drying up, turning black and dying. That will do the job until I receive the nematodes!

 

My first post and it’s about planning a murder. I have had a Jasmine climber for the past 25 years and I’ve got to the point where I’ve had enough. I’ve tried digging it up but it’s a monster. I’d prefer not to use any dangerous chemicals. Could someone kindly advise me? I’m not sure where to post yet. Sorry!

 

@Hobbynut Better place to post probably "General Gardening Discussions" Curiously I removed a jasmine last Sunday. It was about 15years old having got comfy it was going for local domination. Like you I cut the top off, but then dug the root. I was surprised at how shallow the roots were and I didn't need to get the mattock out.
Best if you can dig it out or find a willing volunteer to do it.
If not chemicals are probably the easiest, Round up or similar, wait for it to start to resprout and then apply according to the instructions, if it resprouts after that then retreat.
Depending where it is you could have a bonfire on top of it; I have done that in the past.

 

Thank you so much for responding. I shall post in the proper place in future. I found on the web that Epsom salts inserted into drilled holes will dry it out. But that is for a tree stump I imagine it would would work for my jasmine stump too! What do you think?

 

@Hobbynut It's not that different to a tree stump so give it a go. It certainly won't do any harm to the soil or surrounding plants.

 

Hello,
I am back here after 4 months since my first post.
I treated my garden with nematodes and add no issue with plants/grass dying the whole summer. I was able to only treat 60% of my garden, that stuff is expensive...
Anyway, autumn came and it appears that the whole neighborhood was infected. We have adult tipules all over our walls (see attached).
I keep burning them with some gas lighted flame thrower every day (the stuff to burn garden weeds). And they keep coming back. For those who died early, I can see their tiny black eggs all over my terrace's tiles.

I am worried they will lay their eggs in my grass again. I sprayed Garden Lime all over my lawn (not too much as I want to see if the grass turn yellow before I spray some more...).

What do you advice me to do at this stage (it has been at least 3 weeks that the adults are around)?

One adult tipule is expected to lay about 300 eggs that will develop in about 15 days.

 

@laurine
I wouldn't worry too much about the adults; they'll disappear as the weather cools down.
As for next year re-treat with nematodes and/or thoroughly wet a an area of lawn and cover with a tarpaulin, old compost sacks or similar. The leather jackets come to the surface, you remove the cover the next morning and either gather up and dispose of (birdtable?) or just leave for the birds. Repeat for a different patch every night.
Confession: I quite like crane flies, but my lawn is more like a meadow and some yellow patches don't fuss me.

 

I've never heard of the name tipula, you learn something new every day.

 

Same here @pete
Just Daddy Long Legs to me.

 

I thought I was being clever calling them crane flies.