Earthworms
@belindayhughes (1096)
United States
March 1, 2013 3:30am CST
Earthworms are one of gardeners' best friends. Their bodies are quite simply composting machines. They eat leaves, apple cores, orange rinds, banana peels and eggshells, among many other things, and digest it. The digestion process is basically breaking down these compostable materials into nutrient rich manure, called castings. Gardeners add worms to their soil in order for the castings to enrich the soil and nourish their plants. The better fed your worms are, the better fed your plants are, and the better your harvest will become. Gardeners refer to earthworm castings as black gold, because plants respond so well to it. Earthworms can make all the difference in a gardener's success.
2 people like this
5 responses
@roshigo58 (4859)
• Pune, India
1 Mar 13
Hi,
You are right. Earthworm is like a friend to farmer or gardeners. One of my friends has marriage hall and he make all the arrangements of food and other things necessary for marriage. Food is cooked on the large scale and leftover food is also on large scale. So he made big pits in his yard and pour all the leftover food in them and raises earthworm by use of that leftover food. I don't know the details about earthworm raising. But he uses leftover food for some good reason.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
1 Mar 13
Hi, roshigo, great contribution, thanks. Raising earthworms is also called vermiculture, and some people make a good business of it, selling their worms to gardeners and fishermen.
@prashu228 (37525)
• India
1 Mar 13
Hi
I agree .We did earthworms are good friends to nature too. They have lot of contribution in growing plants .
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
17 Apr 13
Hi prashu, I don't know what's in earthworm castings as far as specific chemicals, but plants sure do respond to it. Thanks for joining in. Hope you are having a nice day!
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
2 Mar 13
I remember at school we did experiments on earthworm farms and their valuable contribution to the soil. As I have said in a previous discussion of yours we have our own compost bins and you can see hundreds of worms, visible, eating away at the waste going in.
1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
5 Mar 13
I have heard of earthworm type compost bins, in which the waste and earthworms are installed in the top layer, then filter down through some screens, leaving the ready to use compost on the bottom screen, or something like that. My own composter is a tumbler model, so unsuited for earthworms to reside in. But I don't mind digging a little compost into the soil in my raised beds on a seasonal basis. It's not much to ask in return for super rich soil and abundant yields, courtesy of the earthworms.
@lampar (7584)
• United States
17 Apr 13
Thank for this gardening lesson tip, whenever i plow my home garden and try to get it ready for some plant and tree seeds, i will always find some earthworms crawling around my garden soil. It seem like i have to leave them alone next time so that my soil composts can get some helps from them in producing rich nutrients for my plant and tree. It is just amazing a group of these twisting little fellows can do so much good for my plant and tree growing process. They are no doubt one of the best helpers for all gardeners looking at the contribution they can give to our soil structure. 
@prashu228 (37525)
• India
1 Mar 13
Hi
yes earthworms are best fiends. I only know that earth worms eat mud . I heard it like that and also what ever is available in the mud. But i never thought about eggshells and all. Though a biology student. 
We did one project during our college regarding vermiculture.
we digged a big hole in the centre of a mango groove and then added the cowdung and all the waste materials along with dried leaves. After a month lots of earthworms were seen which we used in for dissection.
Oh wow i remember the dissection part now. It was so good. 
We did one project during our college regarding vermiculture.
we digged a big hole in the centre of a mango groove and then added the cowdung and all the waste materials along with dried leaves. After a month lots of earthworms were seen which we used in for dissection.
Oh wow i remember the dissection part now. It was so good. 1 person likes this
@belindayhughes (1096)
• United States
5 Mar 13
Thanks, prashu, for joining in this discussion regarding earthworms. As a vegan, I would no longer consent to dissect an earthworm, but I understand that in biology things like that are common practice. I can only bury so many earthworm food things like this in my garden, as it raises the nitrogen content. I suppose a dump for earthworm food could be created nearby, so as not to give the plants nitrogen overload.
