Hi,
In a flowerbed that was never well looked after by the previous owners of our house, I am slowly ammending the soil to make it "a better home" for the plants of MY choice.
Everywhere else in the garden I have worked the soil over, and there are worms. But in this bed, not-a-one!
I would like to buy worms to help me culture the soil.
Is this a silly question, than please forgive my "newbie-ness"
Thank you, Christie
Orchard Supply was selling earthworms in our neighborhood. You might also try bait shops and pet supply stores. Nightcrawlers and other earthworms are sold as turtle food.
Once you add organic matter to the bed in question, the worms will usually migrate there on their own.
I bought a box of worms from a mail order company ad at the back of Organic Gardening magazine. They were alive and well but a long way from California.
Most of the mail order worms I've seen are compost worms, not regular earthworms. The compost worms usually don't do well in the garden soil. They need a manure pile or worm bin to survive.
You're no doubt correct about that. I put the mail order worms in my compost pile and they live there still. My garden has earthworms too but I don't know the difference.
I ordered compost worms (google "worm man") and kept them in a bin in the pantry. As soon as it was reliably not brutally hot, I dumped the whole thing in the compost heap/bin/whatever. They're very happy there if the egg cases are any indication. When it starts getting brutally hot again I'll harvest as many of them as I can find and put them back in the pantry.
They're red -- earthworms are bigger, and brown.
I started some of those red wrigglers in my hoophouse, thinking they would just stay in there and make my tomatoes happy. I occasionally find them here and there all over the two lots we have, so they have gone out and made themselves at home. Not many but some. Outdoors they are solidly outnumbered by the earthworms. In the hoophouse, the earthworms are greatly outnumbered by the red wrigglers.
"You might also try bait shops and pet supply stores. Nightcrawlers and other earthworms are sold as turtle food."
There is such a "ta doo" going on now about bait worms destroying the upper layer of the soil. Please "google" before you buy.
I would suggest moving some of the worms from the other beds into this one, they multiply like crazy.
Judy
Destroying, how so?
Edit; Ok, I googled it, and the worms from Europe seem to be the culprits. Weird, I lived in Europe for 28 years, and I didn't notice they are different here!
But, they must be if they are outnumbering the native ones.
I'll try and catch some elsewhere.
This message was edited Feb 1, 2007 1:37 PM
Good point Judy. The worms we purchased from the pet store were from a domestic worm farm. Probably already regulated out here. I would never put earthworms out in the forest, but I had read that the garden ones tended to stay in the cultivated gardens.
Do you have a compost bin? Or if you take a plastic tote container, add shreded newspaper, a couple shovel fulls of dirt from your garden (containing a few worms) and add kitchen scraps. In no time you'll have a ton of worms.
I have a compost bin, one you turn around in a round bin. But it doesn't get hot, it hasn't composted much in months.
But I'll scoop up some worms and throw them in, thank you for your advice!
I bought earthworms from a nursery, but when I opened the container, they were all dead and mushy... 10 $ worth of nothing. They did give me pottingsoil worth my money, all their worms were dead...
Take those worms back to the nursery for a replacement or refund!
I have red composting worms in a Wriggle Wranch worm bin. It work well although I'd prefer larger capacity.
One day perhaps I can afford a Worm Wigwam, which is a larger, insulated worm bin. You put the food in the top, turn a crank, and pull finished worm compost from the bottom. No need to sift the compost out.
The nursery gave me pottingsoil for the same amount of money, and said to put the worm stuff in the soil anyhow, there may be eggs that'll hatch anyhow. All their worms are dead.
They even brought the soil to my house, because they knew my DH is out of town, they are great.
alternatively, you can put some cardboard/leaves on new garden beds and as long as the weather is above freezing the worms will multiply like crazy under there. (no plants in the beds yet)
Hi Mrs_Colla,
I have simply gotten them from the bait shop but also from Sharons Worm World. E-mail: sharonsgotworms1@netzero.com
If you were closer I'd give you a few hundred! LOL
The little buggers are constantly busy procreating!
Those look like composting red worms.
I got a big bag from here last summer, she's great.
http://myworld.ebay.com/kaelyn0203/
The worms are still doing great, doing my spring planting last weekend I found a bunch. I also spread coffee grounds all over my beds at least once a week - worms love that - and it makes my alkaline soil more acidic.
I've bought red wigglers online for my worm bin, but I've also gotten red worms at the bait shop, put them in my regular compost bins, and "seeded" the yard with them for years. They make a huge difference. If I find a spot where they aren't any, I just get some at the nearest bait store and toss 'em in the garden. I cover them up with newspaper mulch, which they seem to really like (blankies, I guess), then top that off with a nice-looking bagged compost mix, and they seem really happy. I have robins galore, and they seem pretty happy, too. I started a new bed a couple of years ago that was our horrible clay. I started with fishing worms, and then watered with worm compost form my bin, and it's coming around now. I had great luffas from it last year, and now I've got spinach and sweet-pea seedlings sprouting.
Down here in Fla the more worms the more moles.....They say you have to get rid of the worms to get rid of the moles. ugh......I do have lots of worms and I didnt put them there. I usually buy composted manure and all to the flower beds each yr. Fran
