Hi,

My garden seems totally devoid of earthworms (nightcrawlers). I think the
previous owner killed them with insecticide or some crap. Its been 2 years
already and I've been digging and planting my flowers- but absolutely zero
sign of them.

I noticed however- in a nearby park- there seems to be quite a bit of
wormcastings, ie a collection of dark small dirt balls.

I heard that the wormcastings may contain worm eggs.

I was wondering whether its worthwhile collecting the wormcastings and
placing them in my compost bin so as to rear earthworms?

Cheers,

Wylie

g'day wylie,

not real whiz on worms, but never haerd that casting contain eggs they
could of course. but it is winter now so the worms will be dormant and
any eggs in the soil won't hatch until next season when it warms.

also they don't call them night crawlers for nothing that is what they
are by name and nature, worm farmers generally steer clear of them as
they tend to want to crawl out of the farms and away.

you'd do better with tigers or red wrigglers, but might need to wait
until next summer.

those dirt balls could be just where worms have come up to the surface
to feed? they may not be castings as such.

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://mywebsite.bigpond.com/gardenlen2/

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://mywebsite.bigpond.com/gardenlen2/

"LindaB" wrote in message
If you have any worms at all, they will find them. If you don't, you
might have to consider serious options like covering somwhere down the
back with newspapers and soaking that with water, eventually a few may
appear under there you can transfer. Or find a friend with plenty and
transfer some. Better not dig up the Park.


Thanks Linda- but will the newspaper trick work for nightcrawlers?

Getting tigers/red wrigglers -compost worms- are no problem. My garden shop
sells them by the bucket full. And I've got hundreds of them now in my
compost bin.

Nightcrawlers on the other hand I have virtually none.

I discovered that the people who owned this property before me- placed a
thick black plastic sheet over the entire garden- and must have killed all
the earthworms. I'm now in the process of removing the black plastic. ;(

The reason why I want them- nightcrawlers, earthworms- are for the benefits
of deep soil improvement.

Cheers

WW

g'day yau-ming chiam,

generally the worm we have in our gardens are exotics anyway but they
are garden varieties, which yes like the night crawler won't stay in a
worm farm/compost bin as such, but night crawlers themselves came
about for use in worm farms etc.,. until it was discovered that they
where named by name and nature.

if you put well mulched and composted gardens in the garden worms will
find you, there is no way that they could be killed out from your
garden and be next door and never come back to your garden unless
chemicals of some sort had been used.

it is winter and they will be dormant until the soil warms, so maybe
just leave things be in that regard until the summer comes around.

and yes any compost worm will live in any well mulched garden where
you are continually putting back material such as kitchen scraps or
newspaper old fruit or past it vege plants whatever.

in cases where i have moved in and that has been the last 2 gardens,
also same here now there have been no worms visible so i get hold of
some composting worms and put them in my gardens, in my last gardens
after 4 years the composting worms where still there so that is where
i went to collect worms for our composting toilet. too easy hey?

a composting worm i expect wouldn't know if it was in a garden or a
box so long as it has a good supply of food and the place is warm.



snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://mywebsite.bigpond.com/gardenlen2/

"Wylie Wilde" wrote in message
u...
Hi,

My garden seems totally devoid of earthworms (nightcrawlers). I think the
previous owner killed them with insecticide or some crap. Its been 2 years
already and I've been digging and planting my flowers- but absolutely zero
sign of them.

I noticed however- in a nearby park- there seems to be quite a bit of
wormcastings, ie a collection of dark small dirt balls.

I heard that the wormcastings may contain worm eggs.

I was wondering whether its worthwhile collecting the wormcastings and
placing them in my compost bin so as to rear earthworms?

Cheers,

Wylie



I suspect those piles of castings in the park are from lawn beetles. They
leave tell tale volcano shaped castings above ground. Years ago I was
playing golf on a course that had preferred lies. A friend used to take a
preferred tee off on any of these that were close by.

Worms do lay eggs and when the worms have mated you will see a lump in them.
The egg sac is capsule shaped and a reddish/brown colour.

Can't recommend a worm type but the preferred would be something that is in
your locality. Compost worms are good in compost bins but will rapidly
disappear from your garden in search of ideal conditions.

If you had black plastic used as a weed mat the soil may have been damaged
by a sterilisation process. Basically your top soil got fried. So you need
to encourage the soil to rebuild itself.

I would be out to improve the soil rather than adding worms. Lots of manure
and a layer of pine needles, straw, pea trash or similar. Something that
when it breaks down adds decayed matter to the soil. Then top it up with
more. This will increase soil fauna and not just earthworms but things like
springtails, bacteria and useful fungi. A good example of this is in a
forest where tree leaves have accumulated and broken down over years. The
soil underneath will be rich with plenty of humus and retain moisture. Soil
life will be abundant too.

Good luck with it.

Richard

In article ,
"Yau-ming Chiam" wrote:

I discovered that the people who owned this property before me- placed a
thick black plastic sheet over the entire garden- and must have killed all
the earthworms. I'm now in the process of removing the black plastic. ;(

Ooh, fun. You'll have practically dead soil under there. I suggest lots and
lots of organic matter -- doesn't matter what kind. Are you on watering
restrictions? Worms like damp soil, as a rule. Most likely you just have
compacted dirt underneath the plastic.

It might be worth buying a truckload of spent mushroom compost or similar and
spreading it across your entire back yard (after removing the plastic, of
course). If you can get a truckload of chipped street prunings from your
council (the boys will drop it off for free after a day's pruning, if you're
lucky), use that over the top, unless you are planning to lay new turf.

If you *are* planning to lay new turf, speak to your turf supplier -- they may
have some better suggestions to make.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

"loosecanon" wrote in message news:447d9f29$0$7871
I suspect those piles of castings in the park are from lawn beetles. They
leave tell tale volcano shaped castings above ground. Years ago I was
playing golf on a course that had preferred lies. A friend used to take a
preferred tee off on any of these that were close by.

Lawn Beetles? Hmm... I don't think so but I'll check it out.

The castings are just small, soft muddy dirt balls. There is otherwise no
disruption to the soil surface.

I agree you need to build the soil up so the worms have got something to
feed on. Lots of organic stuff, mushroom compost is good and weed free.
Then bury your vegetable peelings and scraps. If a pile of nice juicy buried
scraps doesn't attract them, buy 500 worms from your local nursery and but
them in your buried compost and let them spread from there.

I keep a worm farm without a bottom, ie just a concrete bin sitting on the
ground about 5m from the first of my veggie gardens (20m from furtherest
one). All the food scraps and spent veggie plants go in the farm. I
compost my lawn clippings separately until they cool down and go green and
slimy - I then bury that in the garden (as per previous suggestions of a
compost trench. The compost worms love it - I think the farm acts as a
breeding ground and they migrate from there to the garden. Whilst my garden
is full of worms, I never see those little mounds of dirt that you mention
and are common on lawns. Maybe the garden soil is nice and loose so the
worms don't have to break the surface to get a good air supply ??

Interestingly the worms disappear from my farm in the heat of summer (but a
few stay in the garden) At that time I clean out about 30cm of castings and
spread them around the garden and start again with a fresh layer of sand in
Feb. The worms all come back as the weather cools down.


"Yau-ming" wrote in message
...
"loosecanon" wrote in message
news:447d9f29$0$7871
I suspect those piles of castings in the park are from lawn beetles. They
leave tell tale volcano shaped castings above ground. Years ago I was
playing golf on a course that had preferred lies. A friend used to take a
preferred tee off on any of these that were close by.

Lawn Beetles? Hmm... I don't think so but I'll check it out.

The castings are just small, soft muddy dirt balls. There is otherwise no
disruption to the soil surface.

"Geoff & Heather" wrote in message
news:4497cd42$0$20683
breeding ground and they migrate from there to the garden. Whilst my
garden is full of worms, I never see those little mounds of dirt that you
mention and are common on lawns. Maybe the garden soil is nice and loose
so the worms don't have to break the surface to get a good air supply ??

Hello Geoff and Heather,

I'm not referring to compost worms that stay at the top- I'm referring to
earthworms that burrow deep into the ground.

I've got plenty of the former...

James
Yeah funny thing that - I always thought the little piles of dirt were worm
castings, but as I say I have heaps of worms (compost and larger deeper
digging natives) in the garden and in the lawn at my current place, but
never see those mounds, whereas my previous place the worm supply was very
sparse, but I had heaps of little mounds. Maybe it is only some of the deep
burrowing kinds that do that.

But I think your original question was about eggs in the dirt mounds - I
can't imagine that the deep burrowing worms would lay their eggs on the
surface - but stranger things happen
Cheers,
Geoff

"James Martin" wrote in message
u...
"Geoff & Heather" wrote in message
news:4497cd42$0$20683
breeding ground and they migrate from there to the garden. Whilst my
garden is full of worms, I never see those little mounds of dirt that you
mention and are common on lawns. Maybe the garden soil is nice and loose
so the worms don't have to break the surface to get a good air supply ??

Hello Geoff and Heather,

I'm not referring to compost worms that stay at the top- I'm referring to
earthworms that burrow deep into the ground.

I've got plenty of the former...

In article ,
"Geoff & Heather" wrote:

James
Yeah funny thing that - I always thought the little piles of dirt were worm
castings, but as I say I have heaps of worms (compost and larger deeper
digging natives) in the garden and in the lawn at my current place, but
never see those mounds, whereas my previous place the worm supply was very
sparse, but I had heaps of little mounds. Maybe it is only some of the deep
burrowing kinds that do that.

Well, I'm betting your previous lawn was boggy.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Hi There
I am new to worm farming and i didnt know where to start but just wanted to give it a go. So thought i would have a search around the internet to see what info was available and couldnt really find much! However i did find a really great book to download which was incredibly informative and really easy to read. Now I am so excited as i have a better understanding as a complete novice and i highly recommend it to anyone starting out.
I found it under this website: Beginners Guide to Starting a Worm Farm

would appreciate any further advice from anyone.

Allotment Lady