Bobberman
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Location: Latrobe Pa.

How much is a garden fishing worm worth in your raised bed!

This area of gardening needs more input! Why old manure from the farm works so well in your garden may have alot to do with the 100's of works that you are adding to your garden! Should you should gather worms from anywhere you can find them and add them to your raised beds? Yes we should. The $3 box of fishing red worms at wal mart may be a better buy for your garden than a sack of potting soil!
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After a rain I go at the edge of the woods and gather up a bucket of leaves and stems from the woods floor. When I go through the mix I find dozens of small babyworms that I add to my seed starting mixes and cold frames! when you dig you garden and see los of worms you will have a better garden!. Why do most farm grounds have lots of worms when plowed?
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The reason to me is three fold manure from usually cows or spreaded. The roots of the old corn stocks or even weeds being plowed under that feeds the worms! The third reason is airating the soil by plowing but the plow does not disturb the layering like a tiller does! When you get board go pick some worms and add to your garden or beds they are worth their weight in gold!!

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I love that idea. Does the kind of worm matter? What are fishing worms?
I live on an island, but I do not like to catch or eat fish. I caught an eel once, it messed up my line and those things have scary teeth!

Actually, my garden is so full of worms, I cannot put a shovel in the soil without digging them up. The geckos are usually waiting to pounce on them every time. Can one have too many worms?

Bobberman
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Location: Latrobe Pa.

I am not sure what kind of worms you have there. There are blood worms also is some areas but they bite unlike regular red worms or night crawlers. There are many types of worms in the garden and most are good for the garden since they eat decaying vegetation and secrete a worm excretion that is rich for the plants! worms also airate the soil as they dig or eat along their tunnels!

Tonio
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Location: San Diego, CA !! Z10/SS24

imafan26 wrote: I live on an island, but I do not like to catch or eat fish. I caught an eel once, it messed up my line and those things have scary teeth!
That's funny imfan. Actually reminds me when I was in in Makaha spear fishing (skin diving) with my brada. I speared a an eel and took it to a rocky landing. We literally had to beat the thing for 10 minutes with the ends of the spears to stop it from trying to bit us :shock:

Its alot lazier butter 'n up some opihi and brew :lol:

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Opihi sounds ono Tonio! Hard to get now and it cost $120 a gallon the last time I checked.

Well I have blue worms and red worms in my bin. Earthworms and a paler fatter worm in the ground. I even find a few sometimes crawling around in the pots.

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

We have NO worms in Arizona but lots of worms in places I use to live, TN, IL, MI.

Bobberman
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I would think even in arizona in a raised bed you could raise worms probably red worms that can tolarate the heat!

sepeters
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Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:24 am
Location: AZ, zone 9

I have always found worms in my soil. I keep a worm bin to collect the compost but they breed like crazy, so I add them to my soil and give them away. I got mine they way you suggested. :) Bought fishing worms at the sporting goods store. I started with red worms, but the holes in my bin are too big and they were escaping and dying, so I switched to night crawlers. They work great.

The other day I picked up a potted plant out of the mud by the front door and saw the tail end of a little worm sliding in through the drainage hole! Musta been trying to get out of the rain!

Gary, if you don't see them when you're tilling or watering, just dig in the yard a bit after (or during) a rainstorm. They will come up to the surface or close to it then. If you catch a couple they'll likely stay in the garden. Or release red wigglers. They do fine. If I let my nightcrawlers loose, I never see them again though, which is probably not good.

I'm sure the worms were brought here and are not native, but any home that has a grass lawn will have them. If you're developing true desert soil you may well not have them, but they will do ok if you put them in the garden.

estorms
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Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:04 am
Location: Greenfield Township, PA

I bought some fishing worms last summer. Pound for pound they are more expensive than lobster! I hope my garden gets worms soon. I see no worms on my property, not even on the driveway after a rain.

Tonio
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Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:07 am
Location: San Diego, CA !! Z10/SS24

imafan26 wrote:Opihi sounds ono Tonio! Hard to get now and it cost $120 a gallon the last time I checked.

Well I have blue worms and red worms in my bin. Earthworms and a paler fatter worm in the ground. I even find a few sometimes crawling around in the pots.
wow, I guess I forgot about this thread :?

$120 for a gallon of Opihi?? Where is the aloha ' aina?? :cry:

I tried a method to attract worms: fork the soil, add corn meal/ cracked corn, greensand, compost, or leaf compost/mulch material- water in , and add newspaper-water in, top with more compost or mulch material-water in. I did this , and in 2 weeks the worms came in droves !! I forked the soil, and there are a bunch of worms !! And the soil looks really good.

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truelivingorganics
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Location: Boynton Beach, Florida

Fishing worms are Earthworms or Red worms or Wiggler worms depending on where your at. Most Pet stores will carry worms in a fridge to keep them cool but not freeze them.

Now keep in mind just because you bring earthworms to your raised garden bed does not mean they will stay there. If there is no food in the bed for the worms they will leave if there in synthetic fertilizers used in the garden they will most likely die before they ever get the chance to leave. And if your plants aren't growing well in this soil don't put worms in the soil to you have tested the PH of the soil. At the same time ensure you soil smells earthy and not sour or unpleasent in any manner. If you won't like the smell you can't be sure the worms won't want to live there and will migrate to where there is more food a better quality environment for them to live in.

If you don't have worms at any store near you than search on amazon.com and you can find that people are selling boxes of earth worm pods. These are earth worm eggs ready to be put into your soil or start your own worm farm. I believe the boxes on amazon cost 9 bucks.



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