Earthworm question
Mark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
last year
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CA Kate z9
last yearRelated Discussions
Rabbits and Earthworms question
Comments (4)I've raised rabbits for years outdoors over dirt floors. While I'm not in the worm business, I do sell and give away enough worms to almost stock a fishing and compost community...LOL. What I've found is that the red wigglers and larger nightcrawlers will share the same spaces. The nightcrawlers leave very large holes in the soil surface, and you often only find these large worms at night, and often mating. They're very fast to retreat into their holes, so it's tough to collect any real amount of them. Red wigglers are another story. They like the slightly mounded, moist piles which accumulate under the hutches. If you leave piles of manure/hay/grains, the wigglers come by the hundreds. All you need to do is gently turn over and go through the piles to harvest the worms by the handfuls. If you continually scrape the piles down to the soil floor surface, you may not find any wigglers. They like being in moist stuff, if you know what I mean. They also do not fair well in soppy soil conditions, so you would need good drainage but constant moisture for them to populate into herds. My worms live under the soil and are not contained by barriers or containers. They burrow and resurface accordingly to regulate their own survival, especially in winter. I always have enough red wigglers come warm weather if I keep minimun waste under the rabbit hutches. Below is an excellent link about starting worm beds under rabbits hutches. Good luck :) Here is a link that might be useful: How to Make Worm Beds under Rabbit Hutches...See MoreInorganic fertilizer and earthworms
Comments (12)If your soil is healthy, meaning an extremely active microherd, then they are breaking down most of the salts into more friendly organic waste products. The amount of the salts used, is the biggest determining factor, that and the amount of humus and organic matter available to the microherd. Don't get me wrong - salts are not healthy for the living soil, that much is proven, but in soil that is very rich in organic materials, with a vigorous microherd (present in some areas no matter what is being added to the soil), microbes and earthworms will still flourish. The earthworms will avoid the areas that are "weak" in microbes and gather in the areas that are rich in them. I base all of this off personal experience and opposite yard gardens that were fed differently for three years, but still enriched with the same amounts of compost, and organic materials. Good luck TiMo...See MoreInvading Earthworms
Comments (26)A blanket statement that worms do not belong in North America is simply wrong. But that's not what the writer of the Boston Globe article, nor the researchers interviewed have stated. What they have stated is that the forests in what had been glaciated areas (ie., the forests northeast of New Jersey) evolved earthwormless, and developed into ecosystems where a thick duff layer always existed, and so had a variety of organisms that depended (& still depend) upon that duff layer for existence. The earthworms destroy that duff layer, radically altering the forest by diminishing its habitat quality....See MoreEarthworms, earthworms...earthworms
Comments (12)On other forums there is some discussion about the use of the liquid "aerators" called Aerify and Nitron. Generally they seem to work when used frequently. One of those is a soap based product and the other seems to be based on yucca extract. Both of those materials are surfactants. If you want to try that out without paying a huge premium for soap, I would try some generic baby shampoo from wherever. Put it full strength into your hose end sprayer (or mix it with beer like Jerry Baker ;0 ). Adjust the sprayer so that you see just see foam coming out. Spray monthly for 3 months and then skip to every other month. The idea of the surfactant is to break the surface tension of the water and allow it to penetrate deeper. The screwdriver does somewhat the same thing by opening up holes for the water to penetrate the first 3 inches without resistance. Your light yellow grass with the seeds sounds like poa annua. You'll have puhlenty of that next year. I think preemergents were designed for poa annua. Deep infrequent watering won't affect the grubs but it will positively affect the beneficial fungi. You want fungi. The soapy water should help, there, too. The best organic control for grubs in the south is beneficial nematodes. In the north milky spore seems to work better. Both have their idiosyncrasies. Beneficial nematodes need very wet soil to move around. Apply during a heavy rainstorm. Like now would be good in Tennessee. Milky spore needs to have a big presence in the soil. Seems that repeated apps every 6 months for 3 years is needed....See MoreMark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
last yearMark Furtak SoCal Sunset 10/USDA 8b
last year
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