Worms Worms Worms Worms Worms

[harleysilo]

So are these wormholes?

[mresseguie]

I'm not sure, but I think those are one-man fighting positions.

[dice]

So these are wormholes?

Yes (nightcrawlers). I can put a piece of newspaper over bare
dirt out in the garden, check after a rain, and there will usually
be several of those under it. They seem to like the moderating
effect on drainage when it is raining of newspaper, cardboard,
etc above their tunnels. I find them under stepping stones and
so on, too.

[TZ-OH6]

The granular nature of the dirt looks like the work of ants. Around here the nightcrawlers leave a pile of castings over/next to the hole that looks like it came out of a grease gun. If it is from ants they will be visible.

[huntoften]

I agree...ant holes. Worm holes will have rounded piles of muddy looking soil around them...ants carry the little pieces out and pile them up. The ground looks far too dry for nightcrawlers to be out and about. As for the big, round hole...not sure what that could be.

[dice]

We don't have any ants up here that make holes like those,
but you might have, so I cannot comment on whether those
are more likely to be nightcrawler or ant holes. It is true that
the little cone of castings around nightcrawler holes are usually
muddy looking around here, but those look about the right size
to me.

Additional note: nightcrawlers crawling along the top of
the ground at night can find their own personal tunnels
that they made themselves. Scent markings or something.

[Raymondo]

I'm betting ants for the holes with debris around them and spiders or beetles or some such for those with no debris.

[robin303]

I believe the large hole is from these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

[huntoften]

Excellent Robin...I have been racking my brain about that hole because I know I've seen them before and knew what they were...now I can sleep at night!

[harleysilo]

The small holes are indeed ant holes, i looked closely for a few minutes and saw then coming in/out. Still not sure what the larger holes are from....

[duajones]

I believe in the theory if you build it they will come. I redid a flower bed in the front of the house a couple years. Poor clay soil that I ammended with cotton burr compost along with some coffee grounds from Starbucks. While preparing this bed I didnt notice one worm. The front lawn and bed has had nothing but organics since, Soybean meal, alfalfa on both and a little fish emulsion on the plants in the bed. When I went to plant petunias last week, there were worms in every hole, big ones too.

[robin303]

Just got to give the little guys a home. What gets me they can live up to 12 yrs. Thats like pets. Thats why I don't till.