Earthworms, or lack thereof

15 years ago

I've just dug up an approximately 36 square foot bed (a bed I grow nasturtiums in)and didn't see a single earthworm. It's true I don't amend the soil in this bed because it's got a good consistency already and I'm only using it for annual flowers, but there have always been earthworms in it before.

We've been in a severe drought (officially) for 2 years, and we have so many moles we have had to sink ratwire underground fences around nearly every raised bed we have. (This bed is un-ratwired.)

I fear these two factors are not sufficient to explain the scarcity of earthworms we've noticed this year, even in vegetable beds that are regularly given organic matter. What can I do?

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Comments (6)

justaguy2
15 years ago
Earthworms in the north like it cool and wet, not warm and dry. Odds are you didn't see any worms due to it's being summer and no rain for so long. It isn't that they aren't there, rather they are likely just lower in the soil column than you dug.
gardenlen
15 years ago
the best you can do is keep adding the organic matter consider daily if need be putting yor kitchen scraps under the mulch on the beds (though i guess the mole situation may be against this?) so then keep the bed heavily mulched with green type spoilt hay type mulches and get the moisture level up.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page
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weld
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for your responses, justaguy and len. I'm sure you're right, jg. I shouldn't panic yet. And that's a good suggestion, len, about mulching more during the season. I do tend to neglect that.
organicguy
15 years ago
If you have enough organic matter, I would suspect pesticides. Is it possible that your mulch has pesticide residue in it, or perhaps it is being sprayed by a lawn care company?

Ron
The Garden Guy
http://www.TheGardenGuy.org
weld
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, thankfully, I don't have to worry about any of those possibilities. Don't have a lawn care company (don't even have what most people would call a lawn-- we have some tough grass that we mow if the buttercups, Queen Anne's Lace, hawkweed, violets, and ironweed have died back) and our mulch is entirely homegrown organic matter. We live on a 50 acre piece of land that includes meadows, pastures, and woods, and hasn't seen a pesticide in at least 24 years! You mean there are such things as Lawn Care Companies?

Thanks for your response, though! Keep up the good work..
Kimmsr
15 years ago
What is the level of organic matter in that soil?
How much moisture is in that soil?
Earthworms, no matter where they live, need an environment that is cool and moist, and if the soil they have been in gets too dry they move down where it is cooler and hibernate until conditions become more liveable.

Earthworms, or lack thereof

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