WORKHORSES

WORKHORSES J
Captive but Comfortable
Environments for Worms
Keeping an indoor worm bin is a great winter project that gives a double payoff in spring:
several gallons of fabulous free fertilizer,and thousands of worms (and cocoons) to release
into your garden in spring. For certain success, follow these five simple guidelines:
Location. To mimic underground conditions, choose a dark, cwi place such as a @ementor remote closet where temperatures range between 50 and 65 degrees.
Housing. Modestsized piastic storage bins or other moisture-proof containers (such as
large, ventilated cat litter jugs) are ideal. Dark-colored containers shield captive worms
from light;cover translucent containen with a blanket or paper bag to block out light.
Bedding. Soak a mediumsired cardboard box in water before tearing it into ragged 3­
inch pieces, or do the %me with a &inch stack of newspapersor junk mail. Mix with 1
galion of compost or loamy soil (avoid using sand or sandy soil, because sharp sand par­
ticles are abrasive to soft-bodied ealthworms).Allow one or two days for the moisture level
in the mix to stabilize before adding worms.
Fond. Earthworms in new bins respond best to grain-basedfoods at first, ,probablyb e
cau,se they decompase so quickly. k f p e r corn
.buried in small caches just beneath thesuiface
ftethat. yms m
p forg&a,bout them fwweeks at a ti
Cross-section of an earthworm burrow, with castings at the burrow entrance
112 MOTHER EARTE NEWS
June/July 2008
1
E:
improve it physidy by opening airways
and drainage holes as they travel.
Notice that I did not tell you to buy
worms. That‘s becausewe’re recommend­
ing “catch-and-release” worm compost­
ing, which makes use of the earthworms
present in your own yard. These species
have already demonstrated their satisfac­
tion with your unique dimate and soil,
though few (or none) of them are likely
to be red wrigglers (Eixziafetidz)),the
species used in commercial vermicom­
posting systems. That’s OK. Common
red worms (Lumbricus rubellus) and
other species plucked from compost bins
or soil (or rescued after flooding rains)
usually make well-behaved captives, and
you can usually coax larger night crawl­
ers (L. terrapis) to colonize any spot by
piling on plenty of mulch.
Indeed, when it comes to using
earthworms to build soil ferrilicy, Clive
Edwards, Ohio State University en­
tomologist and author of Earthworm
Ecology-the academic bible on earth­
worms-thinks night crawlers deserve
top priority. “The best thing is to ob­
tain some L. t m s h and inoculateyour
garden with them. They are the most
important species in promotingsoil Fer­
tility,” he says.
Night crawlers are widely available as
fishing worms, but before you buy any,
try these simple setups to give resident
night crawlers a helping hand.
Maintain permanent pathways that
are mowed or mulched, so there is al­
ways a layer of decomposinglitter at the
surface. Night crawlers build semiper­
manent burrows, where they stockpile
food gathered at night. Providing safe
year-round habitat is essential to keep­
ing populations high.
Userhe spacesbetweenwidelyspaced
squash or melons as night d e r con­
dos. Place wet newspapers or cardboard
over the surface (they love the shelter),
sprinMe raw oatmeal over the newspa­
pers (they love the food), and top with 2
inches of coarse, moist compost. Repeat
the layers and top off with grass clip­
pings, smw or anotherattractivemulch.
Ifyou build it, they will come.
Conduct compostingprojects in your
garden, especially slow heaps that will ba-
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From left: Earthworm cocoons; Earthworms in soil; A compost experiment. The plant on the right reaps the benefitsof earthworm castings in its soil.
i d l y sit there until they are done. Night
rawlers often build deep, elaborate burDWS beneath piles of slow compost.
Try straw bale beds (see explanation,
Page IOl), or simply let a pile of old hay
rot atop an infertile spot. The biggest,
most energetic night crawlers I’ve ever
seen grew into giants beneath a bale of
decomposinghay
Raising and Releasing
Your Captives
Night crawlers need to burrow like
birds need to fly, so they are only marginally happy when reared in bins. Yet
common red worms or field worms
(Aporrectodea species, which can be
gray, pink or even green) do fine in
bins as long as you provide them
with a pleasing habitat (See “Captive
but Comfortable Environments for
Worms,” Page 112). When I transfer
worms from my garden to the all-youcan-eat buffet conditions in a bin, they
transform the mixture of bedding and
food into finished worm compost in
four to five months. The fresh compost
also includes hundreds (or thousands)
of cocoons, so as I use it in my garden, I
simultaneouslydistribute a new generation of ready-to-hatch earthworms.
With few exceptions, the earthworms
that inhabit North American gardens
are exotic speaies introduced from
Europe (the natives were wiped out in
the last ice age), and Edwards points
out that there are no guarantees that
they will prosper in a particular space.
‘hailable organic matter is the key to
building up earthworm populations,
but it may take several years because
their time from cocoon to maturity is
four to 12 months,” he says.
Working with worms that have already shown their satisfaction with
your climate and soil by simply being
there simplifies this challenge, but even
happily naturalized earthwormswill not
How to Herd Worms
You can call a dog or shoo a cat, but the best way to move earth­
worms is to herd them with light. To harvest vermicompost from
a bin, gently pile a cone of material from your worm bin on a flat.
1
1
surface in bright light and wait about an hour. The worms will
form a dense mass in the core of the cone.
Occasionallyearthworms decide to leave a bin that‘s become
too crowded or damp. You can wick out excess moisture with
cigars made of tightly rolled dry newspaper (which can then be
torn into new bedding). Until you can set things right, prevent run­
aways by removing the bin’s cover and keeping a light on at night.
Tillers are murder on earthworms. but even gentle hand culti­
vat on caLsescas.a lies. A 6 e e d or so Defore C J t.raring a oeo
tnat‘s Ne.i-pop..ared .v.m eartnhorms set u p a haven nearby
sLch as a composr p e, m u cned pa!hway or a cacne of our ea
114 MOTHER EARTH NEWS
IunrNuIy 2008
stick around unless the soil is moist and
rich in organic matter. Digging in compost between plantings coupled with
heavy mulching does the trick in most
climates, though many worms do head
for deeper digs as the weather heats up
in summer. Dotting the garden with
piles of moist organic matter that are
shaded by tall plants is an easy way to
keep earthworms up in the root wne in
hot weather.
Sweet Summer Setups
l?arthworm castings are rich in plant
nutrients and growth-enhancing humic acids, which the worms distribute
as they move through moist soil. I like
to keep a worm bin going indoors in
winter, but in the summer it‘s simplerto
make worm compost outdoors. Here are
three simple setups:
When container plants expire, dump
the used potting soil in a large bucket
until you have a couple of gallons. Add
a dozen or so earthwormscollected from
your garden or compost pile, sprinkle
the surface with corn meal or oatmeal,
then cover with 1 inch of grass clippings.
Keep the bucket in a moist, shady spot
protected from rain for a month. The re­
conditionedpotting soil (withworms re­
moved, see “How to Herd Worms,” Page
114)will contain enough worm castings
to fertilize several needy containers.
In a plastic storake bin perforated
with ventilation holes, toss together
equal parts wet newspaper or card­
board suips, soil and compost until the
mixture is 10 inches deep. Bury a pint
or so of grain-based food waste such as
old bread, flour, rice or cooked pasta just
below the surface, and add 200 or more
worms. Snap on thi cover, and place the
bin in a shady place (placing the bin in
a hole will help maintain optimum tem­
perature and moisture). In fall, use the
contents of the bin to top-dress carrots
and beet-two crops that respond dra­
matically to vermicompost.
To encourage earthworms to congre­
gate in one p h , dig a hole about 16
inches deep an& equallywide, and refdl
it with veggie and fruit trimmings from
your kitchen and garden, topped with 2
inches of soil. Cover with b o d or an
old tarp and forget about it for a month
or two. Dig up your buried treasure in
the fall, and transfer some of the worms
to an indoor bin. Move the rest to spots
in your garden near compost piles, grassy
pathways or deeply mulched beds. They
will h o w what to do!
Whichever worm projects you de­
cide to uy,thii time of year you should
have no uouble recruiting willing worm
workers from your own garden. Just
poke around beneath mulches, compost
piles, or clumps of grassy weeds (a favor­
ite earthworm hangout). After you have
collected a few dozen earthworms, give
them a job. You’ll be doing your part to
fulfill the earthworms’destinies, because
every last one of them was born to spend
its life turning decaying organic matter
into rich, fertile soil. ?
I
!
r
Smart Owners
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Call Your local O O O P e ~ t i
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PROTECT YOUR BIRDS
Take a few simple steps: Disinfect
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IundJuly 2008
115