A Few of Your Questions and Some Answers

shel — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:36:31 +0000

The Journey of the Worm

Q: How did composting worms get to the United Sates?

A: They came like many of us have, as immigrants. They hitched a ride on imported plants to the United Sates. The worms were either fully formed adults, new hatchlings cocoons or. Once the plant was introduced into our gardens the worms began to multiply and thrive in their new environments….

Earthworm taxonomist Sam James, a professor at Iowa’s Maharishi University of Management, says that until the arrival of European colonists, the continent above the glacial line was worm-free. “When ice sheets covered much of northern North America,” he says, “native earthworms were eradicated.” The glacial edge runs from Washington State to Long Island, with a southerly dip below the Great Lakes and Ohio.

Although native earthworms are found below this line, the innocuous locals, which number 90 or so identified species, still haven’t squirmed more than 100 miles north in thousands of years. The invaders came to this continent packed in the soil around potted plants, in ships’ ballast or tucked in the hooves of livestock. Aided by their fevered reproductive rate, the official blessing of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a reputation for results and durability with fishermen, they prospered. This last from Wikipedia.

Q: Why can’t I just collect the worms from my garden and start a worm bin?

A: It is unlikely that the worms you find in your garden are composting worms. Most likely they are burrowing worms called Lumbricus Terrestris. This burrower is a robust, almost pencil thick worm, and frequently grows up to six inches long. It lives in depths of six inches to six feet.

By the very action of burrowing through the soil, Lumbricus Terrestris creates tunnels that allow air and water to reach down into the plant root zones. Burrowers use their tunnels as underground throughways to move about, even creating chambers for winter hibernation. At the depths where they live the ground is stable enough and the burrows can last over time.

Burrowers move through the soil eating organic matter, dirt and whatever comes before them. These worms create tunnels that allow water, air and nutrients to filter down to the root levels of plants, shrubs and trees.

Another common burrowing worm Lumbricus rubellus has a distinctive red color and is often called a red worm. This points out the difficulty in using common names for specific animals, as the term “red worm” is used to describe at least two different worms with reddish coloration.

Q: Are composting worms called top feeders and why is that?

A: The top feeders have a slightly different function. Living in the top two to four inches of the soil, they devour large amounts of decaying matter which fall to the earths’ surface. In the wild these voracious eaters consume up to their own eight in organic matter each day. They leave behind their nutrient rich manure, referred to in these many ways: casts, worm castings, worm compost or vermicompost. Vermicompost is an excellent source of nutrients for plants, an organic and dynamic soil amendment.

One of the most common top feeders in the United States is Eisenia Foetida, highly recommended for vermicomposting. E Foetida is another worm referred to as a red worm because of it’s color.

Top feeders differ from burrowers in that they do not create permanent burrows. The material where they live is loose and whatever space they have created by moving through the area is soon compacted. They leave tunnels behind, but only as a consequence of their movement. These are not used aa a permanent throughway and are crushed or destroyed as soon as a human or animal walks above them.

I will have more of your questions and my answers here as time permits.

I hope your worms and their bins are doing well.

~Shel

Vermicoast's worms

A Short Worm Lesson For You About The Eisena Fetida

shel — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:01:36 +0000

There have been several people who have asked me these questions from the recent postings. I hope this short fact sheet will help to understand more about the red worms for all of you. If something is not here and you wish to know more about this topic please ask!

A Short Worm Lesson For You About The Eisena Fetida

> Adult worms, (EF’s) can be identified by the bulbous ring 1/3rd of the way down the worm’s body. This is called the clitellum

> Worms are nocturnal

> Worms will eat approximately one-half their weight per day (24 hours)

> Worms breathe through their skin; therefore, their habitat must be kept moist

> Worms reproduce through cocoon production

> Cocoons are lemon shaped and colored, about the size of the letter ‘o’

> Cocoons darken to a deep ruby red as they mature

> Baby worms will hatch out of the cocoon white in color and look like a bit of thread 1/2″ long. They will gain their red color in about 8 hours

Facts :> 1 pound of worms is about 1,000 worms (adults)

> 1,000 worms equal 1 pound or 16 ounces

> 500 worms equal 1/2 of pound or 8 ounces

> 250 worm’s equal 1/4th of a pound or 4 ounces

> 125 worms equal 1/8th of a pound or 2 ounces

Some of the favorite foods of the worm are:

>The waste portion of: melons, all fruits, leftovers from sandwiches, cookies, and the list is just about endless, as you will find out.

> Be creative and see what a worm bin in your garden or home can do for all the different aspects of the soils and the plants you have.

> The worms will amaze you with their appetites and inventiveness of eating what you have fed them.

Until I am back again, I hope you will enjoy your worm bin adventures.

~Shel

Vermicoast » Red Worm Facts

A Few of Your Questions and Some Answers

A Short Worm Lesson For You About The Eisena Fetida