Earthworms 'eat seedlings'
24 June 2010
The humble earthworm, once praised by Darwin as essential to agriculture for its soil-turning abilities, may be having a more sinister effect on our gardens. Soil biologists have discovered they are also 'seed predators', feasting on seeds and seedlings before they even emerge from the ground.
A team of scientists at the Georg-August-University Göttingen in Germany, led by Dr Nico Eisenhauer, fed earthworms seeds and seedlings from different plants. They found that the worms fed on seedlings at both the radicle and cotyledon stage, killing the young plant.
However, Guy Barter, head of the RHS Horticultural Advisory Services, says there's no cause for concern – losses of seedlings to earthworms account for a tiny proportion of those lost overall.
'Earthworms do far more good than harm,' he says. 'They are of vanishing unimportance compared to other things that predate seedlings – gardeners really don't need to worry.'