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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

What to plant to attract earthworms?

So, for this early spring planting, I want to consider what the earthworms would prefer.

I know they are ALL over the early starting chickweed and henbit/dead nettle roots around the time the ground has thawed and earthworm signs pop up everywhere in the lawn. So I won't be in any hurry to pull them out or cut/hoe them down.

I'm intending to sow and/plant peas, Favas/Broadbeans, and onion transplants and sets everywhere. But you're not supposed to plant them together/next to each other. The old time injunction may have more merit in light of what we've discussed here.

What do you think? Would the earthworms prefer allium or legume root exudate?

garden5
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Well Apps, I was going to post some reference links for you, but after reading them over, they all said the same thing:

1. Till the soil as little as possible.

2. Add compost. One resource said worm castings as well, but this is probably just for nutrients.

3. Add mulch.

However, I do remember reading somewhere that by having strips of grass adjacent to your garden, you will have some "migration" from the worms there. Also, it's even better if you're in the country and don't mow this grass. I suppose it helps it to hold more earthworms.

I've never heard about specific crops that attract/repel earthworms, although when I think about it, it sound like it should be possible.

However, I just read a post by another person on a another forum where this same question was brought up. He said that earthworms derive the majority of their diet from microbes. Microbes, in turn, are attracted by the plant's edudates. So, it's not necessarily the exudates that attract the worms, but the microbes which are attracted to the exudates. Also, those poster who said this also said that he doesn't believe that some plants attract more earthworms than other plants.

Of course, we all know that the best way to attract these microbes in the first place is......compost and compost tea! This demonstrates one more of the many ways that compost benefits our gardens. :D.

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rainbowgardener
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Only thought I have about that is that when I tried onion skins/ tops in my worm bin, the worms wouldn't go near them. After they were in there about three weeks, I pulled them out, since it seemed like it was creating a whole zone with no worms. So I'd go with the legumes.

Glacier Hills
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I was reading about companion planting yesterday and it was said that mint attracts earthworms. It also improves the health of cabbage and tomatoes, and It attracts a couple beneficial insects, hover fly and predatory wasps.



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