Yuck! Worms may be beneficial, but why are there worms in my pool? This may be a question you ask your swimming pool contractor from A Clear Choice Pool Care in Menifee, CA when the comes to pay a service visit. You certainly don’t mind worms in the garden or when you’re fishing, but you certainly don’t want to share your swimming pool with them!
Jumping in the pool should be a fun and enjoyable experience — not one fraught with jumping onto a worm or seeing them floating in the water or sunken to the bottom. You may not be able to keep them out of the water altogether, but you can take steps to minimize the number of worms that make it into your pool.
Why are there worms in my pool?
Worms do serve a very good purpose for the environment, so you don’t want to eradicate them completely, but we do understand, you don’t want to swim with them.
For the most part, worms are happy being underground, minding their own business and tending the soil. In the spring and in the fall when it’s cooler and when there are heavy rain storms, worms are lured to the surface of the earth. They might even be lured to your swimming pool because of the warmth of the water.
It seems that once worms get above ground they lose their sense of direction and will make their way toward warm surfaces like sidewalks and pool decks and watery surfaces like your pool. After they’ve fallen into the pool, they just can’t get out.
Tips to keep worms out of the water
- Use a pool cover. Using a pool cover can eliminate a lot of pool water issues. When you use a pool cover you can keep the worms out of the water, even though they may be on top of the cover itself.
- If there has been a storm in your area, check the pool deck and pool area for worms. Scoop them up and relocate them if they haven’t made it into the water.
- Check your landscaping. If it’s alluring to worms, they will make their way poolside and hang out in the poolside landscaping. When they do this, they will eventually make their way into the pool. Move the landscaping about 24 feet away from the pool and this may keep the worms out.
- Give the deck a lift. If the deck is elevated, the worms may not be able to make it up on to it and if that happens you will have a worm free pool. Relocating an existing deck will be a chore, but if you’re in the process of a new pool build, talk to your pool contractor about an elevated deck — even if it’s only a few inches, i may keep worms away.
- Crushed limestone can keep worms away. It will raise the soil’s pH and make it not attractive to the worms. This is a way to keep worms out, but to not kill them.
Remember, they may be slimy and gross, but deep down they won’t harm you!