Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from Rick McGreal contains these words:


Someone mentioned a way to gather worms....


Something about a plastic sheet after rain?


You've reminded me of something an American told me elsewhere on
usenet,which I meant to try at home but forgot. She used a worm stick to
fetch them to the surface. IIRC correctly the worm stick is something
like an old broomhandle, sharpened to a point at one end and notched
down one side at about 2 cm intervals. Jam the point in the ground, and
run another stick up and down the notches to vibrate it. Let me know how
you get on :-)

Failing that, beg a sackful of old horsemanure from a local
stable..some I acquired a while back and am only just putting to use,
contain thousands of worms which must have been breeding in the luxury
conditions.

Janet.



Hmmm - Interesting.

When I was a kid, I had to raise a pair of chicks to adulthood as a
school project. So I was always gathering worms for them, just for fun.

IIRC - we sprinkled a little soap powder onto a patch of grass, and
watered lots with the hose (on spray) until it frothed up then soaked
in. Little buggers all came out within minutes. (Yes, we did rinse them
after - oh they were clean!)

Never seemed to damage the grass, but I wouldn't imagine it's a good
thing to do all the time... I was kid - I wasn't concerned with THAT!

But definitely YMMV.

Thes.