Not every creature slithering outside could be called a worm. You can’t clump earthworms in with hornworms, or larvae in with nematodes. But there are plenty of wrigglers in an everyday landscape that make a good living without legs.
Some are good for you and your garden, some are bad, and some are just biding their time until they turn into something else.
Knowing the difference is key to getting along.
According to wigglyworld.com, hundreds of segmented worm species in many families can be called earthworms. One thing all earthworms have in common is they live underground, yet at different levels.
Earthworms, whether big or little, red or brown, found in deep dirt or shallow, are considered beneficial to the landscape because they aerate the soil and break down organic materials into nutrients that plants can actually use.
A good sign of soil health is how many earthworms and red worms you come across while gardening.
The bad category of true worms is admittedly creepy. These include parasites to man and beast such as roundworms, hookworms and threadworms that live in the intestines. The good news is these are easily avoided by keeping your hands clean and not gardening in places where animals may have defecated.
Then there are the many wormish critters such as budworms and hornworms. These live above ground and can damage plants. They are not considered true worms because they have teeny tiny legs.
Budworms go to town on your cabbage, geraniums and other plants. Hornworms hide in the tomatoes. An easy treatment is Bt – beneficial bacteria in powder form that you can buy that kills wormlike creatures, but is harmless to humans.
Be judicious with Bt. You won’t want to harm beneficial earthworms or caterpillars.
Equally creepy cutworms and grubs are the fat, whitish larvae of beetles that love to snuggle into your compost pile. Cutworms are known to chomp tender seedlings cleanly where the stem meets the soil.
The larger grubs of Asian beetles are ugly, to be sure, but harmless. As adults, they feast on rotted fruit and dive-bomb you when you’re picking peaches.
Nematodes are microscopic, and chances are, your garden has plenty. The nematodes to hate are root knot nematodes that feed on the roots of tomatoes, vegetables and fruit trees.
Since we can’t see nematodes, examining the roots of plants is the only way to know for sure if nematodes are causing a problem. Look for knotted and stunted roots.
UC Davis Integrated Pest Management suggests allowing nematode-infested areas to go fallow (in farm-speak, this means empty) for a few years to allow the critters to die off without a food source.
Biding their time
Larvae we like, of course, are the caterpillars of monarch and swallowtail butterflies – two common kinds found in our landscapes.
Monarch larvae feast on milkweed plants exclusively.
But you can find colorful swallowtail larvae on all kinds of plants such as parsley, fennel and passionflower vines.
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