worms

AL – posted 19 September 2001 17:43

earthworms are destroying my green.Any advice on how to get rid of them?

TDKX – posted 25 September 2001 18:19

First I must ask what you are calling a “green”. You mean a bentgrass/poa annua golf green? If so, then you are about to run into trouble. I can tell you what to use but you are going to have trouble getting it unless you have a pesticide applicators license. There is a product called Turcam that will do the job. It is a restricted use pesticide and mere possesion of it is considered a felony. Turcam’s production has recently been banned but small amounts are still available. AND DON”T tell any distributor that you intend to kill earthworms with it. Tell them you intend to kill ants or white grubs. If you don’t know what you are doing with this product you can kill yourself as well! It has a very low LD50 (around 28 mg will kill a 200 lb man 50% of the time) Just think of that 500mg Tylenol tablet you take for headaches and that should put things into perspective very quickly. Financially, Turcam is ridiculously expensive, but if you have a golf green for yourself then expense is not a consideration. You might want to talk to someone who knows about “greens” in your area. I can tell you that Turcam has been stockpiled by those in the know and it is still legal to use. I hope that helps.

TDKX

seed – posted 26 September 2001 10:11

Al, it is a violation of Federal law to apply a pesticide in a manner in violation of the label. Go to your attorney and ask, “I intend to apply Turcam for purpose of controlling earthworms, but I conveniently have some other pest present. Therefore, can I legally say that I was treating the other pest when in fact I was intending to kill earthworms?”

Second question, “If some member suspects that I was killing earthworms intentionally, and reports me, what would be your typical costs for my defense in Federal court?”

Third question, “Can you guarantee that I will be found innocent of violating the law (of killing earthworms, which is what I intended to do)?”

Phil