Earthworms in your flower pots?

[Pete]

Interesting thread especially about vermicompost if this stuff does generate worms I can see it being a massive help to anglers out there who create wormaries for bait!

 

[maddie]

Interesting thread especially about vermicompost if this stuff does generate worms I can see it being a massive help to anglers out there who create wormaries for bait!

That might be an idea.. lol. You can make the best of the composting bin that way I guess. My husband was in Japan and he said they served him a packet of nicely fried and vacuum sealed earthworms with tea.. LOL He asked what the stuff was and politely refused.. He always comes up with these funny stories every time he travels to Japan, China, or Hong Kong on business.

 

[ChanellG]

Interesting thread especially about vermicompost if this stuff does generate worms I can see it being a massive help to anglers out there who create wormaries for bait!

If what stuff does generate worms? The concept we were discussing is using worms to aerate your soil, which led to talking about composting systems where the WORMS generate the COMPOST. The advantage of a worm bin is it takes less time to get the "product" than with traditional composting.

 

[dim]

I use vermicompost (it's the best .... better that rabbit poo compost)

the problem is, that if there are worms in your pots, what do they eat? .... they need food... they are alive

so, my advice is that worms in the garden are good .... they forrage for dead leaves etc

if you add worms to your pot plants, you are wasting your time and sending the worms to a slow cruel death, as they will starve due to a lack of food ....

unless you topdress your potted plants on a regular basis with vegetable scraps from the kitchen?

 

[ChanellG]

I use vermicompost (it's the best .... better that rabbit poo compost)

the problem is, that if there are worms in your pots, what do they eat? .... they need food... they are alive

so, my advice is that worms in the garden are good .... they forrage for dead leaves etc

if you add worms to your pot plants, you are wasting your time and sending the worms to a slow cruel death, as they will starve due to a lack of food ....

unless you topdress your potted plants on a regular basis with vegetable scraps from the kitchen?

You have a point, but what do the earthworms in the dirt in people's back yards eat? They aren't being tossed kitchen scraps, after all. Providing dead leaves is pretty easy; there's no reason why you couldn't recreate certain conditions with large pots... though what the worms would eat, is definitely a question that would have to be addressed.

 

[maddie]

I use vermicompost (it's the best .... better that rabbit poo compost)

the problem is, that if there are worms in your pots, what do they eat? .... they need food... they are alive

so, my advice is that worms in the garden are good .... they forrage for dead leaves etc

if you add worms to your pot plants, you are wasting your time and sending the worms to a slow cruel death, as they will starve due to a lack of food ....

unless you topdress your potted plants on a regular basis with vegetable scraps from the kitchen?

I always use water in which lentils are washed to water my plants. I run kitchen scraps run through a blender... and use the water to water my plants. Most people bury banana peels, add egg shells, coffee grounds etc., into their containers. There is enough for the worms to eat. I also add dried leaves run through a meat blender to the soil. I have often found that my earthworms have multiplied by the tens each time I stir up the soil.

 

[firelily99]

I have never used worms in my pots but it is a good idea! They are harmless and extremely beneficial to the soil and plants. I hadn't heard of vermicompost, thanks for the information about it.

 

[Trellum]

I actually tried this with ALL my pots. The regular earthworms seem to reproduce really fast! I remember digging my calla lilies (enough to get a bulb) and I remember seeing tiny earthworms in the wet soil! There were a lot of them and I was so pleased! I started with just a few earthworms I digged out from the dirt in my yard. I put maybe 5 of them in that container, there were like 10 babies in that tiny bit of wet dirt I was holding in my hand! I was blown away!

 

[ChanellG]

@Trellum, when I started composting I drilled holes in the bottom of the container to allow the worms to get in and get at the scraps. After a few months I was turning the compost and there were some medium small worms in the bin. I was over the moon! Then the worms were big and fat and then there were more and more.

I have found worms in pots that no longer had anything growing in them that had sat on the ground low enough to allow the worms to get in. There's no telling why they find their way into your flower pots, but it can only be good when they do!

 

[Trellum]

Hi Chanell! It might sound kinda silly and even primitive from me, but lol... I actually digged for those worms and placed them in my pots I didn't know words could actually get into your pots that way! I often thought the words that I found in my pots were in the dirt when I first filled the pot with it. Good to know they feel attracted to the dirt inside our flower pots

 

[ChanellG]

Good to know they feel attracted to the dirt inside our flower pots

Not sure why they work their way in unless there is some kind of food for them in the soil or some product that the plants produce (some leave behind minerals and nutrients), but they benefit the plants so it's all good.

 

[headfullofbees]

Put a little bit of wet cardboard on the surface of your pot.
Worms love cellulose, and there is lots in cardboard.

 

[SunBakedParadise]

I love earthworms, they are my favorite garden critter and I try to encourage their growth and survival throughout my garden. When I work with containers I try to add a small bunch of worms. Then every couple of weeks I will top dress with coffee grounds and some shredded paper or cardboard to keep them fed and healthy. The black gold they produce and the aeration of the soil and microbial growth they encourage. I am a WormNerd

 

[headfullofbees]

I've been turning over part of my new allotment, and I've been helping the worms uncovered by my digging to get back undercover so the blackbirds don't get them.

I don't dislike blackbirds, on the contrary, but they can have the slugs.

 

[Trellum]

Not sure why they work their way in unless there is some kind of food for them in the soil or some product that the plants produce (some leave behind minerals and nutrients), but they benefit the plants so it's all good.

I thought so It's always nice to see them living in my pots They are always welcome and that's why I try to leave some dead matter and leaves in most of my pots.