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Earthworms

Hey All,
I was digging around in my large undrained cp container and found some earthworms in the mix
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Then I check out my Sarr and part of the rhizome was rotted. I had to dig up all my sarrs, remove earthworms, then replant! Are earthworms bad for my cp mix? They eat and poop stuff out. Surely that must be adding nutrients to my mix right?

I have this pot raised above ground, and yet the d@mn earthworms still can craw up to it. Is there a way to kill them without killing the plants, or some way to get them to surface so I can pick em out? I've found earthworms in other cp pots. Stupid earthworms may not have wings, but they sure can climb!
 
Hey Larry, i recently had a problem with them too. Tony and I analyzed the problem and he said its best to waterlogg the pot as much as you can for about 1 hr or so. Earthworms need 02 to breathe, underwater they die, so whatever organisms that are in the soi, including worms were killed off also. This is a cheap and natural way to get off those "good" pests.
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Larry,
I think the best way to kill earthworms is to take them fishing with you
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BCK
 
Hey, send them to me!  My veggies would love 'em!  
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Yeah, the water thing sounds good, they must lay eggs or something...  how do earthworms make babies, huh, Daddy?  
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I hate worms, i cant touch them .thats what i do when i have worms, water log them. I dont have a clue how they got into my cp pots
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i repot my plants when i get them and i live on a 7th floor
 
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Can't you pick 'em out and find them a new home??
 
Them worms are deep deep inside the mix. I didn't even know they were in there till I dug into it. These worms must be super earhworms, because my undrained container had about an inch of water above the "soil" line for several days after it rained. Maybe the worms found pockets of air to live off of. Anyways, if they do drown and die, wouldn't they decompose and introduce the dreaded nutrients back into the soil?
 
Larry, I'd rather have a dead worm than a live worm continuing to enrich the mix further. With enough overhead watering for the misting system or anything, I'm sure the plants wouldn't notice.
 
This is kind of crazy.  
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 I love seeing worms in my garden.  The more - the better!  
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 I understand why you wouldn't want them in cp's, though.
Outside, when it rains, worms leave the sodden ground & usually end up on the street or sidewalk where they can breathe.   I would think you would have to keep your pots submerged for quite a while & then make sure they don't get back in.
*here, nice wormy, wormy*
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  • #10
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>I have practiced vermiculture (intentionally keeping and breeding worms) for several decades now. In my bamboo beds, I maintain cultures of two different species in the mulch under the bamboo plants. I feed them the kitchen waste instead of having it added to our landfill problem.

I have, on occasion, intentionally seeded some CP pots and trays with young worms. I have then observed the worms perform their duties. I have seen them eat the velvet like moss from the soil surface and tunnel through the media increasing aeration for the plants roots. Earthworms do not cause rot, but they do eat rotting plant and animal refuse, reducing levels of potential latent pathogens and generally increasing the health of the plants they minister too.

However, I would not recommend keeping them with seedlings or seedling pots as they may have a tendency to bury the seed or seedlings in their castings.</span>
 
  • #11
My father and grandfather raised worms (for when they went fishing).  My grandfather had a huge cinderblock bin filled with so many you could literally HEAR them.  It was gross.  Every so often he'd feed them...toss in some scoopfuls of cornmeal and then turn the soil (rich, black, loose soil).  My father raised them in a tin pan in our basement.  I'll bet not too many people have heard their father say after dinner "Well I guess I'll go feed the worms."  
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Of course I'll also bet not too many people grew up thinking toilet paper, tissues and paper towels came out of your attic.
 
  • #12
Joseph, yeah the worms are good for aeration and all, but what about their castings? Aren't they rich in nutrients?
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