Worms?

[DWSmith]

Any threads on raising worms?

[mothhawk]

No idea, sorry. I don't raise worms, they raise themselves in my garden. the compost bins are always seething with tiger worms (I think you'd call them red wigglers, DW), and in the surface soil, and plenty of earthworms deeper in the garden soil. when I first lived here there were hardly any earthworms, and no tigers, but with regular mulching and adding compost, they turned up, and multiplied.

Are you wanting a wormery, or worm composter or what?

Just checked - there's a thread about wormeries

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr.../64009-wormery

[Plot70]

Worms normally move into manure or compost pretty quickly.
We had manure delivered to the allotments and brandling worms moved in within a couple of days and made themselves busy populating the heap right away.
They even kept up the good work as the manure was being moved to the beds on my plot.

[rary]

Not sure if native North American worms are very similar to European worms, though there are a lot of European worms present there, if you search through any animal manure or old garden compost in contact with the soil you will find suitable worms, collect and keep in a basin, box or tub, you may want to have some small holes in the base but some people think that's unnecessary, put some crumpled wet cardboard in the base along with some partialy composted vegetation, this will give the worms some bedding, as you add more kitchen waste into the container as long as it is kept at a reasonable temperature, the waste will get eaten up by the worms and the more food and at the right temperature the worms will increase in numbers, if the contents look too wet add dry shredded cardboard if too dry add damp/wet cardboard

[DWSmith]

Thanks! Yes, I'm thinking about raising them.

[Babru]

We just spread some mulch that had been removed from the hotbin last year and kept in a plastic dustbin. No good as compost, as not well rotted and stinky (other half still trying to fine tune his hotbin skills). Anyway, lots of those red worms in there, but I don't see this type in the soil.

I always wonder if these type of worms will do ok out in my flower and veg beds. Am I condemning them to death by sticking them out in the cold? I hope not! Anyone know?

[rary]

I honestly don't know, but imagine that as they appear in partialy composted material in the garden as well as under plastic tubs, they must burrow down deep enough to avoid the cold and frost, though I dont think they are the best veriety of worm for the garden soil, there are several species of worms which can be categorised into diffrent groups, some like the "tiger worms" which are the ones you find in your compost and they break down decaying materials, as used in wormaries, then what I know as earth worms which you usually find in the top 4 inch layer of your soil, this type I think pulls the likes of leaves and bits compost down into the soil and help airate the soil, there are others that you will find deeper in the soil again doing the same thing, but really with puting this down highlights the lack of knowledge I have regarding worms, a creature that is the gardeners best friend

[Jungle Jane]

Worms hibernate at a certain cold temp,your hotbin is at a nice temp for them that they’re active,I wouldn’t move them during these cold days,but they might just bury down & hibernate,not worth moving them for that?
If already done,it won’t do any harm,they’d go & find somewhere to hibernate….

[Nicos]

I think you need to look carefully at the invasive worms list in your locality

On a quick goooogle , there seems to be a few invasive worms in your area….including the jumping worm

I think maybe you need advice on this from people more local to you? ( or have you already and happy to move forward…?)

[Babru]

I think you need to look carefully at the invasive worms list in your locality

On a quick goooogle , there seems to be a few invasive worms in your area….including the jumping worm

I think maybe you need advice on this from people more local to you? ( or have you already and happy to move forward…?)

Jumping worm! I must look that up! I've seen New Zealand flat worms years ago at a friend's allotment, but never heard of any other problem ones. The ones I found were red compost-bin types.

I didn't expect to find the worms in the bin of mulch. Luckily the weather here is pretty mild right now, not approaching zero. I hope they're ok. I love my garden worms (sort of - you know what I mean - they do such an important job).

[Babru]

Just seen jumping worms on YouTube. Definitely not these! Thank goodness.