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Earthworms/Night Crawlers

samcanadian

samcanadian

So there's a spot under this old elm tree at my parents house that is a literal honey hole for earth worms.  My Dad will go out late at night with a flashlight and bug spray and scoop 30-40 night crawlers every time.
 
Now, would it be worthwhile for me to go out there with him and fill up a pail to bring back to my pepper pots?  I was thinking I'd just put a handful in each pot...but wasn't sure if it would make a difference if it was only 3-4 per pot.
 
Anyway, hope someone has some insight on this.  If anything, it'll give me a good excuse to go worm-hunting and maybe take a cool vid for you guys.  :surprised:
 
OKGrowin said:
i heard they will run out of stuff to eat in pots unless you keep dumping leaves / compost on them
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That might be too much trouble in the long run, unless I took an afternoon and mixed a bunch of stuff right off the bat into my pots. 
 
Although, it could be a fun/decent project.
 
I'm going to start raising worms, but for the fact of doing tests on planting only in promix and earthworm castings.
 
I would just raise some and make castings and then use that for pots.
 
When you guys say castings...I understand that means poop.
 
However, what's entailed in a worm farm?  Like, how would one do it properly?
 
you can buy a pre-made one or you can build one... check on youtube.. im building mine soon but im probably going to wing it... from youtube videos..
 
I have the worm factory and it's awesome. Considering the time vs. money saved to make your own... you would have to find stack-able trays and drill a ton of holes that allow worms to move through the whole system, I concluded it worth the money to just buy one and buy the worms. Although you don't have to have an upward migrating system; you can just have a box with worms, but you have issues with air flow and separating the castings from the food and worms. The factory makes everything soooooooo easy. 
 
samcanadian said:
So there's a spot under this old elm tree at my parents house that is a literal honey hole for earth worms.  My Dad will go out late at night with a flashlight and bug spray and scoop 30-40 night crawlers every time.
 
Now, would it be worthwhile for me to go out there with him and fill up a pail to bring back to my pepper pots?  I was thinking I'd just put a handful in each pot...but wasn't sure if it would make a difference if it was only 3-4 per pot.
 
Anyway, hope someone has some insight on this.  If anything, it'll give me a good excuse to go worm-hunting and maybe take a cool vid for you guys.  :surprised:
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There is a point where they will eat too much, damage roots and stunt the plant. I would test it on the light side if you did, maybe 1 per 3-4 gallons? Probably not something I would try unless running 20+ gallon pots though.
 
All you need theoretically is a plastic tub, bedding (hydrated newspapers, cococoir, leaves, etc), some appropriate foods, and sufficient time.
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I just bought a worm factory 360, for fun and to see how my pepper plants do with worm tea/casting. I just started so it may be a while before I have any castings. I paid $148 for the worm factory 360 w/2000 red wigglers. You can build one yourself for a lot cheaper but I already have a few projects I'm in the middle of and just wanted to get it going.
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You can build your own worm farm cheaply with a trip to home depot/lowes and or walmart.
 
You can use earthworms but it's suggested to use red worms instead for worm farms. You can order them on Amazon. I saw a thousand on Amazon Prime for like 20 bucks I think.
 
I have only had success keeping worms in really big pots. They will only stick around if it's moist. Pots tend to have periods of drying out in the hot summers here.
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
Nightcrawlers are not compost worms and putting worms in your pots is not going to do much anyhow as they need food. They will live a while but will die when food becomes unavailable.
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This ^^^^  -  Get you some Red Wigglers. The typical nightcrawler that your father is rounding up at night are not those used in compost/worm bins.
 
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