Earthworms can you buy them to supplement the garden?

A DG friend of mine that grows her own earthworms for composting indoors (using a tub placed inside a large spa-type bathtub that she otherwise doesn't use -- now there is a dedicated gardener! giving up a luxiousious bath in order to provide a safe haven for earthworms! LOL) tells me that the large red worm/night crawlers sold in containers as fish bait won't adapt to ambient growing conditions (especially in our hot & humid sub-tropical NE Florida environment). Is that correct? I have, in the past, picked up the pint containers of fish bait earthworms and added them to my garden, especially when I had nesting birds nearby and I thought they might need some help with supplying food for their fledglings.

I'm currently working with a volunteer project to stimulate growth in a Ficus religiosa plant (Bodhi Tree) at our local Zen Buddhist sangha garden. The tree is reputed to be a cutting from the original tree under which the Buddha was sitting when he gained enlightenment. It is basically healthy and growing, but seems to be seeking some additional nourishment. I've added a heavy mulch of hay around the tree and have instructed the resident Zen monk to add coffee grounds from Starbucks and tea bags under the hay at regular intervals, along with any vegetable scraps, to help feed the tree and provide a slightly acid soil. I would like to enhance the process of decay and breakdown into available nutrients of the hay and the other vegetable matter by adding some earthworms.

Do I need to gather indigenous earthworms from my garden (which I can somewhat easily do when I get around to a project to pull up a lot of Wedelia from a moist, shady location in my yard that is certain to be loaded with earthworms), but this project made me wonder if there is someplace to purchase earthworms for outdoor gardening purposes.

I had always thought that all earthworms are one and the same, but apparently there are different worms for different purposes -- composting indoors, gardens, and fish bait??

Any info or assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jeremy

Jeremy, I got mine from someone called worm man. If you'll google that, it will probably give you his website, and you'll get a full pound of nice, well-cared-for, wriggly worms. If you are interested in making a worm bin (they advise keeping it indoors here in SE Texas due to the heat), google "cheap and easy worm bin."

That's amazing, to be caring for a tree that can claim something like apostolic succession from The Tree. Please post a picture if you can and don't mind.

Thanks for the info, BrigidL! I'll check into the worm man site.

Yes, I do feel privileged to be caretaker for such a venerable tree. So far, it is only about 3 ft high, but leafing out nicely. I checked websites for info on Ficus religiosa and this tree seems to be growing normally with the leaf drop along the lower part of the branches being a part of its customary growth habit. If I were to have seen it without knowing what it was, I don't think I would have ever guessed it was a fig (Ficus) relative. The leaves are very thin and graceful, ending in a slender extended point.

I will try to get some photos of the tree and post them here when I next go over for a plant care visit and Zen meditation sitting this Thursday.

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

The Zen garden sounds SO peaceful and serene. My compliments on having been chosen to care for such a special tree.

You are right. There are different types of worms. The red wigglers that are typically sold for vermicomposting can't survive the conditions outside in the ground here. Not sure about your area but asume its the same there.

As for earthworms (the outdoor, underground type), if you will do the following in an area where you want the earthworms, THEY will COME to you. When I 1st bought my house, the backyard was wet limestone clay; the front yard was like a solid rock. I bent a trowel trying to "hammer" it into the ground. There were no visible worms in what earth I dug up. After I did the following, within about 6 months both locations began to improve such that I could dig without breaking the tools, and the soil is now so full of earthworms that I cannot dig up a single trowelful of earth without getting at least one very, fat worm.

In an area where you want earthworms to congregate and proliferate, put down 5+ sheets of WET newspaper (no colors or shiny paper, of course). On top of that dump several inches of finished compost (I get it by the bag from local county recycling program). That's it. That's all that you have to do. You can even put this down on top of grass, weeds, whatever. In a matter of months the whole area will be converted to rich black dirt and will be filled with earthworms. You can, of course, layer any other compostable material on top of this, the more the merrier, but the newspaper and compost alone will do it. This is like a "dinner bell" for earthworms, and they will come from all around to make their home in this spot. You can put mulch on top to disguise it if you want.

Also, my company shreds office paper ultra fine - practially pulp, and they generate about 25 gallons per week in my area alone. They used to recycle it. Now I take it home and spread it around in the beds in my front yard and then put mulch on top. It has done wonders for the soil and the earthworms are numerous, huge, fat, and happy.

I do the same thing with leaves. I'm in Michigan, so I don't know how the worm habits here compare to Florida worms. I chop up leaves in the fall with my mower. I then use them to mulch my garden. When I pull back the leaves, there are lots of big, juicy nightcrawlers underneath. One square foot usually has about 5 worms.

Rob