a question about red worms

Would now be an OK time to add some red worms to my gardens? There are some there, but I would like more-

JP, wondered about that myself yesterday when in a shop that sells fishing worms. Hope someone comments.

If you add organic matter to your garden, worms will come. Maybe you could collect some fallen leaves from around your neighborhood?

I have added lots of leaves, and other OM- still want to know about adding worms-

As Honeybee said, build it and they will come. They can reproduce very quickly but need green organic matter to thrive. Adding more worms without the appropriate compost to feed them will not increase your worm population.

Another question re worms: several days ago I noticed a number of worms had crawled out on the sidewalk and died/dried. Any idea?

They crawl out usually because of a heavy rain--then the sun comes out and suddenly dries the side walk

One winter day last year there were hundreds of redworms that came out onth the curb in front of my house- it was freezing- I never could understand what happened- of course they all died! It hadn't rained- really weird.

Jo, I spent $15 on a 5-gallon bucket of red wriggler worms, dumped them in my two raised beds. When I dug those beds 3 weeks later, not a worm to be seen. I posted on another forum and was told basically what HoneyBee and Laurel have said. If you don't have the right 'food' for the worms, they'll go elsewhere. Deeper down is what I was told.

To answer your question though, if you have worms there now, it would seem to me that you have the right stuff in the garden and adding more worms should work to increase the population. Me, I added lots more compost, some llama poop and rabbit food alfalfa pellets. I'm anxious to see if those dad burn $15 worms come back!!

Mary-LOL! I guess I will buy a few and see what happens- I know my garden has a lot og OM in it, so time will tell. They can dig in for the winter and get ready to go to work next spring!

We visited a vermiculture "farm" with DG friends in central FL last year. It was a highly technical indoor operation. They grew all kinds of worms on tables with screened floors, overhead irrigation and pipes draining worm poo liquid into tanks for bottling and sale. They sell worms and solid worm poo too. I seem to remember that worms have a primary breeding season...Spring. Maybe now is a good time to improve your soil and add the worms later. I'd do some independent research before spending any money. One food they fed their worms is green scraps from the local elementary school cafeteria. The school was able to participate in a recycling project and the farm gave free tours and a lesson in everything worm. They also had a local source for lots of newspaper.
Laurel

Do you remember the name of that farm, Maypop? I wonder if they have a website or something.

My old worm bin finally bit the dust (an old chest freezer) so I'm in the process of making another one, perhaps several. I'll also isolate an in-ground area for the same purpose but having a solid bin makes it workable year-round by being able to keep it warmer than the winter soil.

Shoe

Shoe, I'll DM the info.

Establishing worms in the garden is completely different from culturing worms in an indoor bin. The garden worms are generally a completely different viariety than the red wiggler which is commonly found in leaf piles and used by most vermiculturists for composting garden scraps. If you have noticed worms coming out of the ground after a rain you have a good start at developing a culture for the garden. My grandfather dug a pit and added vegetable scraps, then covered them with leaves and a large board. We always had fishing worms when ever we wanted with little effort. I would suggest the same procedure for establishing worms for your garden. Dig a pit next to your garden area and take as many scraps as you can gather from your garden. Chop them up with a shovel, water well, and cover with some form of organic matter and a piece of plywood. Keep adding scraps to the pile and water well each time you do. Some of these worms will migrate to your garden as time goes on. Your best bet is always with worms already present in your soil, however I am attempting to do this with Canadian Nightcrawlers. I know of a guy in Kansas who did this over a period of years tossing left over Canadians into his yard after each fishing trip. Although Canadians are non-natives in that part of the country it worked. Red wigglers on the other hand do not.

LOL

Mary isn't that what y'all did with Mexicans? Back to worms.

If I understand correctly, regular earthworms are in deeper soil, and red worms close to the surface. I believe they live in areas warmer than zone 5b. We compost as much as we can, including extra coffee grounds from the coffee shops and produce the supermarkets toss out. Our worms have smiles :) They are greyish brown.

cathy166 if there are two different kinds of earth worms, one higher and one lower, would it be right to assume that the best thing you can do is have both? Where do you buy earthworms anyway? I have some that my daughter bought at Target for me ( or Walmart) so I imagine they are for fishing. But I do not know if fishing worms are the ones on top or the ones on the bottomm

1. I think red worms love manure. Therefore, add cow, steer, chicken, sheep manure to your compost and they will come. They are the ones that eat the compost down into soil, (along with other organizims.)
2. My husband prefers earthworms (the deep ones) for fishing. Turns up his nose at my compost worms. (which are red) I read where red worms eventually die in thin garden soil because there is not enough for them to eat because they like manure.... Hence the saying!.... They last much longer when there is lots of organic material for them to eat.
The regular earthworms are the ones that turn the soil, I think. I say, I think, because I am not an expert by any means. I just read a lot.
3. The lower ones will come to the surface during long rainy spells because otherwise they will drown. Check it out after a good rain.
4. Do not buy worms! That is a waste or money. They are everywhere. Especially where there is organic material. They appear like magic.

Beebonnet, I could not have said it better.