Last year I had 1 veggie garden that is about 3' x 12'. Grew great tomatoes. Just finished building 2 more raised bed 4' x 8' and the other is 4' x 7' and filling them up with dirt. As I filled them up I threw in (to rot over the winter) all the tomato vines, sunflower leaves, carrot tops, kale leaves etc. Was reading our local newspaper and we now have somebody selling worms. They're asking $20 for half a pound and touting them as being good for the garden. I'm not debating that they're good for the garden at all as I know they are but has anybody actually ever purchased worms and is there any formulation re: how many worms are needed per square foot of garden? Haven't made up my mind if I'm buying worms or not but if I did buy half a pound how much area would they need to live?
Half a pound could live in a styrofoam cooler with room to spare. That sounds high for red wigglers. Have you looked online to see what they are selling for? When you rake tree leaves this fall be sure and add those to your raised beds. The point of adding worms is that they will multiply and turn all that into rich compost right in the bed !
Are they night crawlers or red wigglers? The two are not interchangeable in their functions. Night crawlers (earth worms) go deep in the soil and aerate like crazy and are what you want in garden beds. Red wigglers are better suited to indoor worm bins not out in the garden. Do you have bait shops where fisher-persons buy worms for fishing? Those are typically earthworms aka night crawlers and are most likely much cheaper but worth checking out before paying 20 dollars for half a pound.
Toni,, the nightcrawlers you buy for bait will not live without refrigeration. They are Canadian nightcrawlers. The nightcrawlers you can pic up here are difficult to keep in one area and the first time it thunders will likely leave and yes,, will go deep. I have tried every way imaginable to raise the local nightcrawlers with no success. I pick them up by the hundreds after a good downpour. Red wigglers are what most use to convert the vegetable trimmings ect. They will stay in one spot as long as the food doesn`t run out and would be perfect for a raised bed.
Thanks for the info. I have no idea re: worms and didn't even realize there were 2 different kinds. My sole insight was that you want worm poop in the garden as it is the best. I will check further as to what they're selling here. Partly I was thinking if I started out with half a pound (not sure how many actual worms that equals) they're multiply and I'd end up with lots more. Will do some more checking to see what is being sold and if there are some other options to getting worms going in my new veggies beds.
Read the above post. We were both typing at the same time. Wait a minute,, where are you located ? Aren`t you in BC ? I keep thinking everyone is in Texas. Sorry, Toni ! Canadians would live fine there and would aerate the soil just not sure about using them in a raised bed .
Ah ha! Got it now.......I want worms that are gonna hang about, eat the compost and poop lots! Mostly here it is ocean salt water. There are a couple of shops down on the wharfs and they have freezers outside where they keep frozen herring strips otherwise they tend to sell flashers, plugs, weights, permits etc. Thanks guys!
Just go online and see what is best for your area !! Check the "plant pest and diseases" column about the black soldier flies !! They may be good for your area !!
Lumbricus terrestris (night crawler) is the best for gardens. They do like cooler weather so when it's hot outside they dig way down into the earth where they can stay cool. The optimum temp for them is around 50 deg F (10 deg C) , that's when you will find them closer to the soil surface and sometimes (as the name implies) they will be above ground at night crawling around on cooler nights. And since they do need to dig down during hot weather, they are not a good candidate for worm bins but regular garden beds and open bottom raised beds will keep them happy. According to the Earthworm Society of Britain there are about 3,000 species of worms worldwide but probably more since many countries do not investigate and keep track of them.
I'll research worms When I dig the front garden beds I see a few but not any great numbers. This is the first time I'd ever seen anybody offering any for sale and as the backyard veggie gardens are all basically new I thought I might help them along by way of getting some worms BUT at $20 - $25/ half pound I was a bit hesitant to jump in both feet to the worm market if I needed pounds and pound and pounds to make a difference. I have buried lots of compost in the bottom of and on top of the first layer of dirt so there is lots for them to eat. Didn't do that specifically to feed worms but rather to start the composting process with light greens that will rot away fairly quickly. Out temperatures here are pretty moderate. I'm real close to the water so there aren't too many extremes. We get a few days below freezing in the winter and the occasional dump of snow here on the Island but it is 99.9% gone within a few days at the latest. BTW - I had no idea there were 3000 species of earthworms. Thanks - will see what I can research
You can buy worms online., Just try to get them from someone in your general area to save money. You don`t need as many as you think. They reproduce pretty fast.
