Well I raise and sell earthworms and you are right. Bait worms, especially
red wigglers are what they call compost or manure worms, they like compost
pile environment. I also raise European Nightcrawlers and they would work
better. There is also a Brown Nose Worm that would do well, I could special
order those.

You would need to mulch the tree for them to thrive, unfortunately, a
compost that was hot could damage the tree, and that is normally what the
worms like semihot compost. So there is the dilemna. I would use a well
composted tree bark mulch or something like that. You could also set up a
good compost pile introduce the worms, let it set for at least 3 months and
then place that around the tree, with the worms in it.

Got to be careful with established trees cause the hot compost can give them
diseases, its gotta be not hot, more wood matter or other matter that does
not have much nitrogen.

If you want to buy worms in the Austin Area we have them and the best
selection of herbs in town.

Gardens of the Ancients Herb Emporium and Nursery
4806 Yager Lane
512-272-9062


"Babberney" wrote in message
news:C153A08F69A5F7A7.BCC8A509612B0CB1.0C641A4AE60 ...
I often tell people the best thing they can do for their trees is
improve their soil. My suggestion for the most low-tech, low-cost
approach is to mulch the root zone. I sometimes tell them to add
worms for even more benefit.

My question: would it be a mistake to suggest buying a box of worms
at the bait shop? Recent posts I saw somewhere mentioned that there
are different types of worms that all look about the same, but some
would be suited to a compost pile and some wouldn't. Makes me wonder
if fish-bait worms would be able to plow through our soil and help
carry the mulch downward like I thought.

Thanks,
Keith
For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please
visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.
For consumer info about tree care, visit
http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.../consumer.html