how do you get earthworms to reside in you garden?

Question

My soil is basically rocky, with little humas for top soil. the area is used mainly for hay farming. What can I do to get it back to a better soil for veggies n flowers?

Answer 1

You hit the nail on the head when you said there is little organic material in your soil. Earthworms absolutely must have this to exist. I don't know how much work you want to do, but the best bet would be to build raised beds where you want to plant and fill them with a mix of half compost and half topsoil, with maybe a little well-rotted manure mixed in. You will have earthworms then for sure! If you don't want to go to the trouble of building raised beds, you should topdress the areas where you want to plant with compost. This will encourage lots of earthworm activity.

There is lots of info out there on making your own compost, so I won't go into that, but you can also purchase it by the bag or delivered in bulk. The bulk stuff may even have earthworms in it already...

Answer 2

I'll tell you what I do. My soil is full of earthworms and quite a few grubs. I would rather not have the grubs but I'd also rather not have to pay for gas.LOL! I do not use ANY pesticides of ANY type. Poisons kill critters. Poison could kill all critters. Earthworms are critters. Poison kills earthworms. Introduce natural nutrients such as naturally composted materials. I use my own composted material made from shredded branches, grass clippings, shredded paper, leaves, and food waste products from garden and table. This stuff is absolutely Viagra for your garden! No filth intended. I also regularly add composted cow manure and humus as soil conditioners/fertilizers. My corn has ears 14" long growing, squash is prolific, okra is prolific, abundant green beans, broccoli, cilantro, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantaloupe. And all in my back yard in an area about 25 feet by 30 feet. I owe it all to natural gardening and being "kind" to the "earth". If you do that, you will be amazed at what a seed, some dirt, little bit of cow crap, and water will give you.

Answer 3

Soil Fertility: How Does Your Garden Grow?
http://soil.gsfc.nasa.gov/soilfert/npk.htm

Earthworms seem to have a particular preference for coffee grounds. I have an arrangement with the local coffee shop/diner that allows me to leave a covered bucket for all their grounds and veggie scraps. Once I began composting with these the worm population went up exponentially.
My guess is any moist, high nitrogen source would work well.
Earthworm-assisted bioremediation
In an experiment looking at restoration of soil after damage due to an oil spill a series of dietary additions was made to help the earthworms and microbes work on the soil.
First they looked at soil recovery with & without worms. Then with three dietary feed supplements added for the worms:(1) coffee grounds, (2) yard waste (grass and wood chips), and (3) brewery mash. These were added in two ways: (1) laid on the soil or (2) mixed in. All were added at the same rate 1:10.
Petroleum removal was enhanced with mash mixed in to the soil more than by just adding worms to contaminated soil and it reduced worm mortality. Just laying additions on top of the soil did not help more than just the worms.
So in poor conditions worms live longer with readily available food source like brewery mash or coffee grounds.
Another study said "The greatest reduction of petroleum contamination was found in the treatments with compost, in particular with earthworms. "
If earthworms can activate microbial action in petroleum contaminated soil with a bit of food what can they do for you?
Earthworms make up ~12% of the living creatures found in the soil. While the bacteria make up 40% and they can be helped to start working by worms.

Answer 4

Buy bags of dehydrated and composted manure and bales of peat moss. Spread the peat moss and manure and incorporate it into your garden area. You're going to need at least 4 bags of manure for each bale of peat moss. Do this each year for at least two years and the earth worms will come.

I also use a layer of cardboard with bark on the top to mulch the plants and paths. Each spring you can rototiller the cardboard and bark back into the soil and it too will add to your earthworm friendly environment and good soil.

Answer 5

Compost table scraps into a pile of dirt and dead plant material. Don't use meat or oils and don't add weeds. Turn the pile to mix it now and then and it will become rich soil. It takes awhile to start using the compost after it cooks into good garden mix.

Answer 6

This might help a little:

http://www.ehow.com/how_17897_cultivate-earthworms.html

Answer 7

Lower your rent.