Topic: Worms

[Davidberry]

I have dug out one of my compost heaps today and put the contents on the beds. I noticed we didn't seem to have many worms in the compost though.  The compost was well rotted and a good consistency. None of the beds on the allotments have many worms in them either.

This is our second year on the allotments site, it had previously been abandoned for about 8-10 years prior to that. 

Is their anything I can do to encourage more worms onto the allotment.  We manured thoroughly last year so I thought we would have lots by now. 

Is it worth buying worms in and putting them onto the allotment?

Hope someone out there can offer me some guidance!!!

[artichoke]

When I am digging and get a good large worm, I throw it onto the compost heap or into compost bins. I think they need encouragement.

I have noticed that when the earth is very dry and hard, they seem to curl up and aestivate/hibernate.

When my compost bins are dry, worms disappear. Keep them damp, and they breed like anything. Surely it cannot be worth buying worms!

[lottie lou]

I encourage them with used teabags.

[cornykev]

In the compost bins the small reddish Tiger worms eat and breakdown the matter, I find when I empty my bins the worms are gone because their process has finished and they are elsewhere. The worms on the beds will be there and you will probably find more this year, I don't put earth worms into my compost bins, I may be wrong but it gets too hot for them in there and they Would die if you used them in a home wormery, outside they will get in the lower parts of the bin via the soil. 

[goodlife]

Yep..earthworms and compost worms are living in different environments ..as for encouraging to 'grow' more of them it is down to providing them them right kind of conditions.
You don't need to buy any worms as once you provide those 'right conditions' they will readily multiply and populate the soil.
Unfortunately we gardeners with our rotavators, constant digging and turning the soil over, artificial fertilizers and tidy habit of clearing dying and decaying plant matter away are just doing totally opposite than encouraging them to flourish.
This means that if you start applying mulches and instead of clearing old veg plants away in autumn, by chopping the stalks and other bits of plants on ground over winter, worms will have something to put their 'teeth' in. Their soul purpose is to drag those 'bits' underground and do their part with the recycling..and not only that, surface mulches will provide insulation against weather and plenty of hiding places against predators.
Bare soil doesn't have much to eat and if compost/manure is only applied once a year or less..once they've dealt with that, there is nothing else for them to go for rest of the time.
Continuous disturbance of soil structure won't be very favourable for them neither..nobody won't like to live in the area where 'earthquakes' happen regularly.
I used to have many compost bins but I stopped binning most of the plant matter and instead leaving annual weeds into piles on soil, using mulches all year round and as result of this I can be sure that in every spadefull of soil there is at least one worm..usually more.. to be found at almost any time of the year.
It is the continuous half decayed plant matter that they need to flourish, not only for food but it helps soil keep moist, conditions that they like to live in.
 

[Deb P]

My allotments were both quite neglected when I took them over,were heavy clay and had very few worms when I dug them over initially. Several years worth of added manure and mushroom compost and the much more friable soil is now full of them, so the more compost/manure you can add, the more the worms will appear to break it all down and improve your soil.