How earthworms can help your soil

[DTOM420]

Jumpers maybe evasive so good idea to check but I’m not sure they would live overwinter in some areas ..... my soil when we moved into house had chemicals dumped on it and was sandy red clayish like with almost zero worms, I found only a couple when turning over soil, I was very disappointed ..... then I scored some horse bedding and shredded leaves and truck load of brown cardboard ..... 13 months later I have a 20x20 area of good soil with a huge worm count ..... now I’m composting more cardboard over the pile and enlarging the pile by raking compost outwards over cardboard and adding more shredded leaves and grass clippings ..... as pile breaks down I’ll continue raking it out enlarging until I have nice enough area for a garden and some flowers and maybe a few special flowers in the mix .....

Indoors I’m using worm bins and raising some composter worms for personal castings and some euro worms for bait and compost .... I feed them horse poop and some leaves and veggie scraps!

Yeah, I don’t know how cold hardy they are but they do overwinter well in the southern part of the country. I’m sure that they’ll slow down to all but zero when it’s really cold but I’d be surprised if they would die unless you live in an area that gets so frozen that they can’t get down to unfrozen ground. Good point, though!

I’m trying to picture what you’re doing with the cardboard. Sounds like you e got a great system! Do you have any pictures? Are you cutting the cardboard up or shedding it somehow? We get a ton of cardboard in all the stuff we have shipped in these days. I usually burn them but I’m going to start using it in my compost piles. I mainly compost manures we generate- cow, horse and chicken. Have you added some of your compost worms to your pile? Once it’s gone through it’s initial heating and has cooled down, the worms would be a great addition, imo.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

https://www.planetnatural.com/worms-winter/

https://animals.mom.me/long-worms-stay-hibernation-10408.html

 

[Archaic]

You guys should look into Ruth Stout gardening, it's a very applicable no til method she spent 50 years perfecting and wrote several books about.

A nice added benefit of wood chips is that they amend soil in both directions. If your soil is too hot the wood chips will mediate it as they decay.

Good stuff, I add wigglers to all of my tomato and pepper beds.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

wood chips mixed in soil can lead to issues.its all about the size and type or types of woodchips you wanna use.it will take the Nitrogen and hold it for an amount of time. most thicker woods do this and some in lesser amounts.

Q: Recently, I read that wood mulches can deplete the soil of nitrogen as they break down. Is this true? If so, what can I add to the soil to compensate for this nitrogen depletion? Or is there another kind of mulch you would recommend that is readily available? Would it be OK to mulch using the fallen leaves of live oak trees? -- Karen Shaw

A: The nitrogen is not actually depleted, it's temporarily tied up. This can happen when organic materials low in nitrogen, such as shredded wood chips or pine bark, are incorporated into the soil. The microorganisms that utilize the low-nitrogen organic matter as food (decaying it) must obtain the nitrogen they need from somewhere else. They take nitrogen from the soil and, in doing so, tie it up in their bodies as their populations surge. When the organic matter is largely decayed, and the food runs out, the microorganisms begin to die. This returns the tied-up nitrogen back to the soil, with the added benefit of decayed organic matter. The problem arises during the decomposition phase. At that time, so much nitrogen may be tied up in the bodies of microorganisms that plants are unable to obtain all they need to be healthy. This leads to pale leaves and stunted growth, symptoms of nitrogen deficiency.


especially more of an issue in smaller pots since it wont be given enough time to decompose and release the Nitrogen back into the soil around it for the most part. worms help.but again with autos in smaller pots its not an awesome plan IMHO.

 

[hecno]

Really good answer @Eyes on Fire . I also believe there is no advantage in having worms in your pot for autos . All the work should have been done before hand . Here are some photos that show wood chip going into its second wet season . I have added nothing and expect it to take 3 wet seasons to break down to where I want it . The pot you guys see has been in the hole going on 6 months , It is full of dirt I made , The worms have done there job and I have taken them out to place else where . Now it is all about the microbes . I have been feeding the microbes to keep every one happy and I plan on adding the soil to worm casting teas . These are hard wood chips .

This next photo is what I am doing with native worms [ soil ] I have noticed in the wild they are under leaf litter , so I am recreating it indoors .
and they are loving it . Plus the microbe life will be huge and he other good thing is cost , next to nothing , only time .

 

[DTOM420]

Really good answer @Eyes on Fire . I also believe there is no advantage in having worms in your pot for autos . All the work should have been done before hand . Here are some photos that show wood chip going into its second wet season . I have added nothing and expect it to take 3 wet seasons to break down to where I want it . The pot you guys see has been in the hole going on 6 months , It is full of dirt I made , The worms have done there job and I have taken them out to place else where . Now it is all about the microbes . I have been feeding the microbes to keep every one happy and I plan on adding the soil to worm casting teas . These are hard wood chips . View attachment 989341 View attachment 989345 View attachment 989346 View attachment 989347 View attachment 989348
This next photo is what I am doing with native worms [ soil ] I have noticed in the wild they are under leaf litter , so I am recreating it indoors .
and they are loving it . Plus the microbe life will be huge and he other good thing is cost , next to nothing , only time .
View attachment 989350

I think you’re right about the worms being limited in benefit to most auto grows; but if you were doing a no-till thing they might be. I can also see where, if your soil got compacted, they could help loosen it or produce pathways for both roots and water. Of course, these issues can be avoided in other ways. I guess I’m just thinking that while there’s a questionable ‘upside’ to including them, there probably isn’t any real ‘DOWNside?’ They are only going to convert organic matter in your soil into something more useable and increase microbial life. Again, not enough to probably make much difference; but is there anything they would hurt?

 

[DTOM420]

https://www.planetnatural.com/worms-winter/

https://animals.mom.me/long-worms-stay-hibernation-10408.html

That would certainly make sense. Thanks for the great articles! I wasn’t sure about the Jumpers because they’re not from N America and I don’t know where in Asia they are from or whether they evolved to survive cold. I wonder if all species of worm, regardless of origin, are able to survive in cold?

Did you know PlanetNatural is closing down?? It’s a bummer!

 

[Eyes on Fire]

Really PN is shutting down? damn maybe ill have to place an order really quick.I always liked them.had good items , decent prices ,and solid shipping for me.

Like they and I always say,it takes time...Its a process.LOL

 

[DTOM420]

Really PN is shutting down? damn maybe ill have to place an order really quick.I always liked them.had good items , decent prices ,and solid shipping for me.

Like they and I always say,it takes time...Its a process.LOL

Yeah. There’s a red banner at the top of the page. They’re doing an inventory reduction sale - trying to get rid of everything. I got a couple 44lb bags of Karanja meal. Apparently the owner is hoping to sell the business but no buyers so far - that’s what customer support told me. Wish I could afford it and talk my wife into moving to Montana! Lol

 

[Eyes on Fire]

Damn,yeah thats really ashame.I have placed a few ordered from there.ill place one soon too.Damn,I am hoping they guy can keep it around.Thanks for the heads up.