I had another question about worms. Will night crawlers survive OK in a greenhouse environment? Thanks again. Tom
Nightcrawlers (aka "Lumbricus terrestris") do not do well in a greenhouse or home vermicomposting environment for several reasons.
1. They do not like soil temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. (Outdoors, they can dig deeper to get away from warm soil.)
2. They need large amounts of soil in which to live (they naturally live deeper in the soil), and they don't tolerate the crowded conditions that redworms/red wigglers (aka "Lumbricus rubellus") do.
3. They dig permanent burrows in which to live, making the lining of the burrow very smooth. They do not like to have their burrows disturbed. Other earthworms just move around constantly, and have no permanent home.
Nightcrawlers are great in your outdoor garden because, in the natural
course of their lives, they do a lot of soil mixing, taking organic material
deeper and bringing subsoil nearer the surface. Their extensive burrows
(some have been found as deep as 15 feet, I believe) contribute to soil
aeration and water retention.
There is an article entitled "Leave Leftovers to Worms" in the current edition (July-August 1997) of Fine Gardening magazine.
We have other creatures living in our house (besides me, my husband Scott,
and cats Annabelle, Sushi, and Mica)--my "herd" of worms!
They number more than 2000. Yes, I am now a very small scale worm rancher.
WORM UPDATE. The herd has suffered a decline in population. All my fault. I
put in too much food altogether. I also put in too much acidic food (citrus
peel). Sometimes I binge on oranges--the worms clearly did not enjoy the
oranges as much as I did. Very sad. The good news is that the worms are
reproducing again, so I seem to have righted their little world.
Worm "ambassadors" have been sent to live with two potted Magnolia grandifloras. Those worms now reside at Bertha Station in Hillsdale (6446 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR USA 246-6225), where time can be efficiently wasted, great coffee is served, intelligent company is the norm, and they have a really fine selection of publications. You want more?? Oh, yeah. The worms. They are there to help the trees which have been suffering but have recently "turned the corner." Now we can all see fat upturned flower buds and anticipate their glorious scent.
After doing considerable research on the subject of vermicomposting, I decided to try a commercial worm bin rather than make my own. It's called Can-O-Worms and is made in Australia from 100% recycled plastic. The brochure is a bit goofy, but humorous. It has cartoon drawings of worms with faces saying such things as,"Dig it!", "This is my can, man!", and "It's paradise." My worms seem happy indeed. This very moment they are munching away on last week's kitchen garbage.
My husband now dreads hearing me say, "Honey, come and look at this!" He says this is one project of mine he will never tamper with. I like to think that I may be the only person on the planet that has a note on her bathroom mirror that says, "FEED WORMS."
There is almost no odor produced by this method. Just a slight "earthy" very pleasant smell when you lift the lid. Other than that, you would hardly know they are in the house. Worms are very quiet and wel-behaved pets--great for urban situations. The system consists of several round stacking trays. Level 1 is the "Collector Tray" which has legs and a spigot. Level 2 the brochure calls the "First Working Tray," but I call it the "First Residential Level"--it's their home, after all!
The general idea is to feed the worms until the first residential level is filled. Then you put another residential level on and put food there. The worms will naturally move upstairs where the food is. You keep repeating this process. (In a few years,worm population should increase to 15,000 to 20,000!) When the lowest residential level is completely vacated, you simply take it and use your wonderful nutrient-rich worm castings on your garden and as part of your greenhouse potting soil mix. (That's what I told the mail carrier when she asked, "What are you going to DO with all of those worms?" Apparently she has never before delivered worms to anyone on her route here in the West Hills. She still asks about the worms and how they're doing.)
How do you tell the difference between a Lumbricus rubellus and a Lumbricus terrestris? If you could anwser that, it would help me a lot.
Sincerely, Rachana
Some differences: An adult Lumbricus rubellus is much shorter in length than Lumbricus terrestris, is redder in color, does not make a permanent burrow for its home as does Lumbricus terrestris, and does not burrow as deeply.
Lumbricus rubellus:
Also known as red worm, red wiggler, and other common names. The most popular
earthworm species for commercial production. Can be raised indoors or outdoors.
Does not make a permanent burrow. Color is maroon. Grows to length of 2
to 5 inches. Popular as fishing bait. Very good for composting as they work
fast.
Lumbricus terrestris:
Also known as nightcrawler, dew worm, orchard worm, gumbo worm and other
common names. This is the largest earthworm found in North America. Grows
to length of 4 to 12 inches. Comes to the surface only at night to feed,
mate and leave castings. Makes a permanent burrow for its home. May burrow
as deep as 15 feet. Also popular as fishing bait. Need cooler temperatures
for living conditions than L. rubellus.
What kind of worms do I have? The ones in my bin (and pictured above) are called Lumbricus rubellus. They are very popular for commercial production and for composting. They do well indoors and out (except in colder regions). They don't mind living in crowded conditions. This type of worm came to the USA from Europe. It is much more active than any of the worms native to the North American continent, so tends to take over the territory once introduced. That is good, because more active earthworms mean better soil faster. The plants do well, and the plants feed us all, directly or indirectly.
Lumbricus rubellus is often found under layers of decaying leaves outdoors or in manure piles. They are not the worms that go deeper into the soil. Those might be Allolobophora caliginosa (field worm) or the much larger Lumbricus terrestris (night crawler). My reading thus far indicates that only night crawlers make permanent homes. Their home is a small vertical burrow, very smooth inside, that just fits the nightcrawler's body diameter. If one digs up a nightcrawler's home, he must build another. It might take him/her 4 months. The other worms just move about wherever there is food and moisture and the right temperature and don't have a "home base."
The result of this knowledge is that when I planted those 12 trees last weekend, I felt a little sad about digging up worm homes and wounding worms with my shovel. I did get past it though, and went on to plant all the trees. The worms will rebuild (and regenerate a body part if they can). After all, that is a worm's life.
Why didn't I just make my own worm bin?
Certainly, it would have been much less expensive. However, the home
made bin systems seem to involve handling the worms a lot more (or just
sacrificing them and starting over with new worms). I don't mind handling
the worms at all (see image above), but I have other things to do.
From the many accounts I read of other people's experiences, getting the amount of moisture, food, bedding, and worms in the right balance was difficult. Also, these bins have drain holes in the bottom, and all that compost liquid has to go somewhere. It sounded inefficient and messy. I like the idea of the worms moving to fresh quarters on their own. I did NOT relish the idea of sorting everything in my worm bin into 12 piles and separating out the worms (one method).
Another method involves just leaving everything in the bin until the worms eat all of the food and compost it. Then all the worms die and become compost themselves. You use the result of this mass murder. It seems like a cruel method to me, and certainly a waste of good worms.
The commercially made Can-O-Worms deals with the sorting issue by having the worms move themselves about. The worms thrive and reproduce. There is room for expansion of the living quarters (and it doesn't take up any more floor space). It also deals with the drainage issue by having a collector tray with a spigot. I plan to dilute that drained liquid with water and use it on my plants. A very tidy system altogether. Works just fine to have it in the house. (No, I don't sell Can-O-Worms or have any financial stake in the company that makes it.)
Why do I have the worms in my house?
Worms do their best work when their living quarters are at a temperature
between 50 and 70 degrees Farenheit. I will keep them outside (in a shady
area) during the summer and early autumn.
Look carefully at the image at the top of this page.
I took a handful of worms from the bin and put them directly on the
scanner bed. There were worms of all ages. Since they don't like light,
they started forming a ball to try to avoid it. The infants and juveniles
went to the center of the ball, so the resulting scan doesn't show many
of them. They were scanned at 200 percent, so they are twice normal size
in the image.
The worms clearly did not enjoy the "photo session," so I only scanned them once and then put them back in the bin. They did not have to pose numerous times as did the slugs (regular visitors to this web site know what that means).
Infant worms are tiny and transluscent. They're 1/2 to 1 inch long. As they grow and age, they darken in color, but still are somewhat transparent. In the image above, you can clearly see the blood veins of "Alex" and "Pat."
A bit of worm anatomy
The front end of a worm is called the "anterior," and the
back end is called the "posterior." The worm's mouth is
in the first segment of the anterior. There is a small sensitive pad of
flesh (sort of a lip) protruding above the mouth. This "lip" is
called the "prostomium." The prostomium is used for sensing
food.
Worms do not have teeth, so mostly they must eat very small soft pieces of food. (It is broken down for them by other creatures such as bacteria, making it easy to digest.) Worms DO have a sort of gizzard (like a bird) in which mineral particles help to break down their food, grinding it into smaller pieces and mixing it with fluid. You should add some soil, sand, or finely crushed eggshells to your worm bin to give the worms something to work with. More on worm anatomy and other facts of life later.
What is the thread-like, completely white worm in the family photo
above?
Well, it's not one of the immediate family. Most likely it is a type of
worm called entrachyadids. There are lots of them in the bin, indicating
acidic conditions, but they don't hurt the worms, and they eat garbage,
too, so I have made them welcome.
There are also thousands (maybe even millions) of even tinier (haven't measured them) short white creatures that jump very well. So far, the word I'm getting is that they are springtails. They eat fungus. One worm scientist had a very amusing response to my inquiry about these creatures. When I find it, I'll put it up. (Still haven't found it, but I haven't given up!)