Why Are There No Nightcrawlers in My Yard?

Too Much Fertilizer

• Some commercial fertilizers are detrimental to nightcrawlers. The chemical make-up creates a hostile or deadly environment for the crawlers and leads to death or simple departure from the area. If nightcrawlers are missing from a lawn, check the make-up of the fertilizer being used and inquire with gardening professionals about the right fertilizer to use to prevent the killing or repelling of the nightcrawlers. All natural fertilizers, such as manure or compost will encourage or attract nightcrawlers as it offers the worms a substance to break down further into nutrients.

Pesticides

• The pesticides used to kill weeds and other lifeforms in the garden also will kill nightcrawlers. Diazinon and Dhlorpyrifos are both fairly common chemicals used in pesticides. Each of these will kill nightcrawlers, leaving the yard bare of the dirt grubbers. Opt for natural or alternative pesticides to return the worms to the yard. Identify actual pests in the yard and use products specifically designed to target these pests. Consider using plants that repel specific pests such as grubs or mosquitoes.

Too Wet

• For the yard plentiful with nightcrawlers, it is obvious they do not like a saturated yard. When significant rainfall occurs, the nightcrawlers make their way to the surface to escape drowning. Continual saturation of a lawn leads to the permanent escape of the nightcrawlers. To bring them back naturally, carefully monitor the moisture level in the lawn. Watering weekly or bi-weekly may be too much for the particular area even in drier times. After heavy rainfall, put off regular watering until the ground dries somewhat. The worms will return on their own when the saturation level returns to the proper range.

Too Dry

• Just as too much moisture repels nightcrawlers, lack of moisture also creates a hostile environment for the large worms. Often nightcrawlers may actually be in the soil, too deep to be noticed, if the top soil is too dry. The dry surface forces the worms to burrow deep into the soil to do their natural deeds. To keep the nightcrawlers closer to the surface to break down soil and create nutrients, do not let the top soil dry out. Monitor the ground carefully as grass and other plants with deep roots may not be affected by the dryness.