Nightcrawler worms

Learn how improving your soil can lead to a better looking lawn
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howard416
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Nightcrawler worms

Post by howard416 » August 17th, 2020, 10:57 pm

I'm planning on re-populating my lawns with some European nightcrawlers. Is there anything to know about effectively introducing them to the soil?

My plan was to drop them onto amply-watered grass on a late afternoon, and then cover them with a bit of soil to protect them until they can get established. Is that beneficial, a complete waste of time, or still lacking?

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Nightcrawler worms

Post by MorpheusPA » August 18th, 2020, 9:12 am

Yes, don't. You already have some, they're just not very well-fed yet and currently at their maximum population. Any new worms will exceed their maximum population and starve to death. It's a waste of time.

Instead, encourage the worms you have (and don't seem to have much of an issue with inbreeding). Worms consume organic material, so if you feed your lawn organically, the worms you have will reproduce up to the limits of the food supply. It's a bit of a waiting game in that the food increases first while the worms take time to reproduce, but it's better that way in that the population never exceeds the food supply by extreme amounts as it might if you added a gigantic number of worms.

In mulched gardens where you could add theoretical tons of material, it's possible to get up to fifty worms per cubic foot (been there, done that) in some areas. In others, you may only support a few because the soil likes to be a bit dry (also been there done that). You also let nature take its own course doing it this way.

And yes, even if you don't see them, you do have them. They're an invasive species from Europe, everywhere, and extremely pernicious.

howard416
Posts: 11
Joined: May 28th, 2020, 10:27 pm
Location: Toronto, ON
Grass Type: KBG / Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
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Re: Nightcrawler worms

Post by howard416 » August 18th, 2020, 10:21 am

I really didn't. I cut out the ~3" of topsoil during my re-sod a few months ago and saw... 2-3 tiny worms? in ~500 square feet?

I know there are probably some around, but I highly doubt that the worm population will be able to get to where I would like it by next year if they can't even find each other to reproduce right now.

howard416
Posts: 11
Joined: May 28th, 2020, 10:27 pm
Location: Toronto, ON
Grass Type: KBG / Fescue
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Re: Nightcrawler worms

Post by howard416 » August 18th, 2020, 10:59 am

For what it's worth, I've put down just under 150 lbs / K of OM since the re-sod (~106 from cracked corn and 40 from granular alfalfa meal), plus mulched clippings, so food for the worms is definitely not a problem right now. Also, the replacement topsoil contains a substantial amount of tree waste.

It's just irksome that my corn from months ago is super moldy sitting between the grass blades (yes, I also know that as the microbial population grows, the rate of natural decomposition will increase).

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Nightcrawler worms

Post by MorpheusPA » August 18th, 2020, 11:16 am

Trust me, Terry has Jamie's number (they're perfect hermaphrodites). And when you dug, their tremor sense went off and you didn't see most of what's in the soil. That's the way it works.

And regardless of what you do, it won't be where you want it by next year. Really, this isn't a hundred yard dash. It's more like a leisurely meander through a forest path. And I kind of mean that literally, because you need to transform the soil into something more forest-like to support a large number of worms, and that takes a lot of time, energy, and organic matter, which you can't just add willy-nilly, either.

Patience is not only a virtue, here, it's absolutely required. Taking an impatient path will not only get you very frustrated, it's just going to fail miserably.

Where I'd start is a Logan Labs soil test. Worms--and everything else--are not happy in an imbalanced soil. A heathy lawn produces hundreds of pounds of its own organic matter every week just via mulched cuttings and sloughing off of root matter, not to mention the carbohydrates the roots throw away to feed the symbiotic bacteria and fungi (seriously). The vast majority of that recycles right back into the system, creating yet more OM over time.

And start feeding organically. That sixty pounds a season or so of OM on the lawn will certainly add up over time. In the gardens, mulch. Maintain the mulch layer at 3" and feed organically there as well; that layer will decay at an ever-accelerating rate.

But if you're looking to do this in a year or less? The answer is a simple "No. It can't be done." Not unless you're already 95% of the way there, anyway.

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