Where have all my worms gone?

[george356]

Could it be that the pre existing cottage was built using lime mortar? This would have the effect of increasing the alkalinity of your soil to a point above the tolerance level for earthworms (between 5.0 and 8.0 is optimal) - normal neutrality of soil is 7, so if there was/is a high level of residual lime mortar in the soil it will not be suitable for earthworm activity. Have you done a Ph test? If you have a lot of success raising brassicas (i.e. no clubroot) that might indicate high Ph levels.

Just some of my observations

If you need to gather a herd of earthworms to be a resident population I will post my fishing pal's method of collecting them

[Highlander]

Hi George
Didn't occur to me that the old pile of a cottage would be lime mortar but of course it was. I will be out with the test kit tomorrow. Brassicas would grow well if I could persuade the resident wood pidgeons to leave them alone - the even get under the netting and fleece which gets them really agrivated until I release them. Certainly not had club root to worry about.
Thanks for the info.

[george356]

It would be a help if you posted the test results here, David.

You don't say if you have earthworms in your front garden (if you have one, that is). If you have a lawn do you get a lot of starlings and blackbirds "prospecting" it? You can tell when they are hunting worms as they make little hops and jumps, some people think that this mimics raindrops falling on the lawn, inducing earthworms to come to the surface to avoid being drowned. Dunno if that's true, though

[Two_Sheds]

If you read the original post it quite clearly states Highlander has no worms now or at any other time of year

Yes, but ... it could have been the case that he THOUGHT he'd never had a worm, but they was simply hiding their selves from him

What he said was "I dug an area over this morning ...and could not find a worm! This is not a suprise as I don't think I have ever seen one"

If a person had looked for worms in a drought, they wouldn't find any. Likewise in the winter: no worms. It doesn't necessarily mean there are no worms, just that the person is looking in the wrong place, or at the wrong time of year.

I didn't doubt him, or think him daft, I just "question everything", take nothing for granted

[Highlander]

PLEASE don't let us all fall out

I will post the result of the Ph test but I have not had chance to get a new kit yet, we don't have shops 'just round the corner' here in the Highlands and I can't justify a trip into Inverness just for a test kit. The chemicals in the old one had got damp so I don't think they would work properly.

I don't expect to see worms anywhere else in the garden as the chickens have free range everywhere except the veg plot - and no they never ever get into the veg plot.

[Two_Sheds]

PLEASE don't let us all fall out

I don't fall out with anyone, but I will always defend myself against brickbats

[veggiechicken]

What are brickbats ? - I haven't seen any on here recently
Unlike worms, that I find in the garden whenever I'm rummaging around. They don't seem to recognise the seasons here.
Sorry Highlander that you don't seem to have any. I'm really interested in the lime theory.
I was told that snails are more common than slugs on limestone - something about them using the calcium to build their shells.............of course, I could be making this up, or just confused as usual

[Bill HH]

Throwing brickbats is giving your honest opinion in a friemdly way to some one determined to argue with you.

[veggiechicken]

Shall we all stick to discussing worms then ?
We like worms (unless they're from NZ )

[Dorothy rouse]

I'd never even heard about these 'NZ' worms that we don't want, so am gonna have to how and see if I have any lurking! If I find some will, have to find someone to remove them, being a bit of a wimp!

[Nicos]

You most certainly don't want them Dot!

[Bill HH]

As a matter of interest we used to use pottasium permanganate as a solution in the chickens drinking water for certain diseases. When we emptied the drinkers on the ground within an hour hundreds of worms would come to the surface, they seemed to be alive. Also when i used to go round penning up the chooks on a very wet dark night the ground was covered in worms lying along side each other, they seemed to be indulging in congress to put it delicately.

[rary]

Highlander, could I suggest that you pick an area of you garden and douse it with a couple of large watering cans made up with a acidic solution ie. half a bottle of vinegar added to a can of water then place one of the bags that A.P was recommending leave this down and check it daily even if you find any worms or N.Z. flatworm, which can give you a caustic burn. I have the flatworm in my garden, actually found one yesterday and dropped it into a glass of vinegar, which dissolves it. But the good news is I also have earth worms again,

[Highlander]

What are brickbats ? - I haven't seen any on here recently

A brickbat is the old term for a cut brick which was sometimes needed at the end of a course in order to allow a full brick to be used to turn the reveal. In days gone by (when I was at college) buildings were never designed using modular components so things like windows and doors sometimes meant that stretcher bond would not fit between reveals without needing a cut brick (brickies could cut a brick to size with one hit from the edge of their trowel). Building sites always had bits of brick which had been cut - brickbats - which could be thrown at the apprentice or hod carrier to keep them in line. H&S put a stop to that little passtime.

On the Ph theme, I finally got round to testing samples from 5 places today and all were Ph 7.0 so the old lime mortar must have washed away over the 30 years since the cottage was demolished.

[Highlander]

As a matter of interest we used to use pottasium permanganate as a solution in the chickens drinking water for certain diseases. When we emptied the drinkers on the ground within an hour hundreds of worms would come to the surface, they seemed to be alive. Also when i used to go round penning up the chooks on a very wet dark night the ground was covered in worms lying along side each other, they seemed to be indulging in congress to put it delicately.

We used to collect worms for fishing off the cricket outfield when I was a lad. I always felt sorry that they had come to the surface to find a mate only for use to use them to catch chub and barbel.