Will this red worm damage my bonsai?

[Joyce2021]

I found some red worms in the juniper bonsai soil. Will the worms damage the tree? Please advise. Thank you very much.

 

[ShadyStump]

Looks like an ordinary earthworm of some sort. If the tree is healthy they shouldn't be damaging at all, but the fact that you have earthworms in a pot does raise questions about the soil conditions. They live off dead organic matter, and generally need a good amount of it to survive, so I wonder what your soil is like.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I find worms all the time. They wiggle into the pots when the pots are on the ground.
Good for percolation and turning gunk to goo.
Doesn't hurt the trees but birds go for them and they tend to dig until the pots are empty.
If you want to catch the worms and remove them, just jam a chopstick in the soil and wiggle for a while. They will emerge and try to escape.

 

[bbk]

Worms are generally good for soil and therefore good for plants.

 

[Potawatomi13]

just jam a chopstick in the soil and wiggle for a while.

And how is this for roots?

 

[bbk]

And how is this for roots?

We all love rooting around at some point in our life.

 

[rockm]

Worms are fine -- up to a point. They produce extremely fine soil particles as they digest what they eat. The worm castings can cause drainage issues if there are a number of worms in the soil mass. As said, they also like organic soils which can already have drainage issues.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Worms are fine -- up to a point. They produce extremely fine soil particles as they digest what they eat. The worm castings can cause drainage issues if there are a number of worms in the soil mass. As said, they also like organic soils which can already have drainage issues.

This. When worms get into pots, they don’t harm trees directly, but I have seen their castings affect drainage. At repotting, you’ll notice the soil ends up with a muddy mess at the bottom of the pot.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

And how is this for roots?

They love it when you fill air pockets you didn't know were there!

I'm willing to play ball and state that worms might solve drainage issues because their castings are washed away easier than whatever went into that worm. The castings also contain a bunch more beneficial bacteria than soil does by itself.
So I'm in the 50/50 benefit/no benefit camp.

 

[ShadyStump]

They love it when you fill air pockets you didn't know were there!

I'm willing to play ball and state that worms might solve drainage issues because their castings are washed away easier than whatever went into that worm. The castings also contain a bunch more beneficial bacteria than soil does by itself.
So I'm in the 50/50 benefit/no benefit camp.

I'm of the same philosophy. I know how well my vegetable garden is doing by how many worms I find, but in a tiny pot I'm slightly more sceptical.