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Sun, Aug 14, 11 at 21:08
| I have tons of earth worms this year in my compost and leaf pile. I've never seen so many. Every time I'm moving out a barrel I uncover a few!!! Do you guys normally put them out in the gardens or leave them in the compost to keep eating? Will they mate faster if they are all in the piles? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| They belong in the high-organic compost. They'll die in the general garden. |
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| Oh-wow! Wouldn't have guessed that since I've seen them in the beds every once and awhile when I'm digging. I better just keep tucking them back into the piles then! Thank you. |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Tue, Aug 16, 11 at 0:46
| Hi Kittens, Leave them be ;-) Earthworms (as the name implies...are in the earth) They will do fine in your garden, that is where they belong, on the other hand, if you are referring to "red wigglers" they like a lot of fresh food, so a different animal ...all together ;-) They will do OK in a "cold pile" they won't like a "hot pile" but they will crawl away if they don't like the surroundings.
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| Earthworms digest organic matter, your leaves and compost, as long as it is moist enough for them. In soils with adequate amounts of organic matter they are at work, as long as the moisture level of the soil is adequate. If there are a lot of earthworms in your compost pile that is an indication the compost may be too wet. I have had piles of leaves, which hold a goodly amount of moisture, with earthworms very active there as long as they stay quite wet. If the leaf piles dried out the worms moved out. The compost worms, not earthworms, will die (or more properly will go dormant) in soils that do not have adequate levels of organic matter. |
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| I thought they were the regular earthworms but I guess I need to take a closer look now. Yes, my leaf pile is really wet! It's been raining every few days with some hard storms. I think it must be soaked all the way down now - about 3 1/2 feet. |
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- Posted by dottyinduncan z8b coastal BC (My Page) on Thu, Aug 18, 11 at 21:21
| Jon, your pictures are compost porn. Who'd of guessed composting could be so erotic? |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Thu, Aug 18, 11 at 21:39
| I know ;-) It's not often you get to see worms "doing it" ;-) |
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| Red worms(Eisenia fetida) are the so called compost worms. They can live in soil, but will seek out compost of some kind. Night Crawler (Eisenia hortensis) are the so called garden earth worms. Both are Eisenia & are earth worms, but to prevent confusing, the name compost & garden are labels to help new vermicomposter keep the two apart. You should visit the vericompost on this site. |
Here is a link that might be useful: redworm & grass clipping
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| I took a closer look at one in my pile and I can't see a difference. I've just been leaving them be - at least I know they are happy there. As I'm transferring my piles out into the garden, I'm sure some are inadvertently going into the beds. I'm pretty darn sure I came across a pile of castings about 6" x 6" inches in one of my beds. Do they leave big piles of droppings like that? I didn't know what the stuff was and as I was digging came across 2 worms (not doing the nasty like jons :-) in the same area. This particular bed has a pretty good layer of compost (over a truckload of clean fill I needed to bring in) and semi-whole leaves so there is a lot for them to eat. If that was indeed worm castings, I'd sure love them all over my yard! |
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