Dirt Mounds- moles or worms or??
Whitetail Deer
Brand new to site and my first post. Planted a small clover plot this spring and it came in very nicely. Looked great for weeks. Took a look at it yesterday after not seeing it for about six weeks and now its in decline. I have a bunch of these soft mounds of dirt in the Plot. Anybody know what they are? I researched it a bit but can’t confirm exactly what it is- mole mounds or worm castings (crap)? Or something else. It seems to be a big part of what’s causing my plot issues. Any remedies?
I'd go with earthworms. Looks like their waste.
Looks like earthworm/nightcrawler castings to me. Definitely not moles.
The easy way to confirm would be at night, after a rain, with a flashlight.
Matt
I read it’s great fertilizer but boy it’s messing up my plot big time. Covering the clover and making it very spotty..
Earthworms are beneficial to your soil, not a liability. If your clover ain’t what it’s supposed to be there’s another reason.
Moles usually leave a raised path as they tunnel. My guess is worms....scoop that up and put it in your garden.
It's not pocket gophers. They leave large mounds and rarely is there a visible hole.
I agree with others that this is worms, based on the castings. There is no better advocate for your food plot then a mess of earthworms or crawlers. IT may be visually unappealing, but the amount of worms you must have are doing far more beneficial things to your plot, then bad.
Drainage, fertilizer, and aeration, all for free.
The reason you have so many, is because it is the first time planting on that site. The more tillage you do, the less and less you will see, which is not ideal in many cases.
I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was something to the affect if you take a spade full of dirt out, can count 6 worms in it, it is the equivalent of almost a ton of fertilizer per acre, per year. Money in the bank my friend.
Do not get discouraged, for a first year planting that looks pretty legit. Clovers and alfalfa are always a 2nd year crop, as in it will come back next spring twice as thick (as long as you planted a perennial). At that point, you wont be able to see the worm mounds anyway.
Looks like night crawlers to me. Which should only help with any kind of growth. Like someone else said, check at night and you'll see if it is.
With nothing to compare size wise it's a tough call. My first thought was craw dads as mentioned above.
Overseed with more clover. Those mounds will take it right up.
If I overseed now, do you think it will grow this season or lie dormant till next year?
All clover plots suffer through the summer. Will perk right back up as temps drop and rains return. Hit it with 100 lbs acre of 0-20-20 in Sept and it will be great come Spring
There’s a small creek down a hill from my plot. Are you saying crawfish go in dirt away from water???? I can’t imagine them making the trek to my plot. Maybe it’s the summer heat stress as well, going to fertilize again soon!
Hunt,
I honestly don't know if you would need to overseed. The pictures you have shown are pretty decent for how young the plants are. You certainly can, and clover seed is cheap.
If you chose to, this is absolutely the best time you could overseed!
I just planted a fall cereal plot, but also mixed in clover specifically for next spring. The clover will germinate but still be pretty young by the time it goes dormant for the winter. In the spring, since it already has a foothold, it will take off before any weed can get established. As I had stated, make sure its perennial (had a buddy find out the hard way).
My clover plots are the first things to grow/green up on my property. Typically beating weed germination by a few weeks. A few weeks later, if there are weeds, they will be choked out.
Just as a PSA, crawfish have been in my plot beside the creek several times. It gets pretty wet. They like wet. But them ain’t crawfish mounds, them are earthworms.
just put a trail camera on it!
