Are WORMS Really Good for the Soil? - Ep. 190

[@NanasWorms]

We have an ancient, native leaf litter worm species here on the southern tip of Vancouver Island called Arctiostrotus vancouverensis. This region was spared the Ice Age, so this species could be well over 600,000 years old! Because I used manure from a farmer that contained these beauties, I now have them in my worm bins and throughout my garden.

[@SequoiaElisabeth]

Kyle knows his turf and soil! Always fun to hear a knowledgeable person share.

[@yellowgrape-z9k]

he is spewing out what he was told to believe, and it is not correct, He is EDUCATED, and INFORMATIVE, but he knows NOTHING about earthworms, wigglers, night crawlers, and "jumping worms", he does seem to know a fair amount about the entomology of beetles and other bugs though, don't think just because someone has a degree that they are knowledgeable or intelligent, they are merely educated.... in a philosophy, they know what they have been told!, Just like now you know what you have been told, you have not researched it to see if he is correct or not, or if google knows what they are talking about when it comes to worms ect... Just because someone teaches it is school does not make it true, just because it is on google does not make it true, RESEARCH FOR YOURSELF!!!

[@kiwigardens9206]

I so love your videos ❤ they are educational and interesting. Thank you for making them, love from New Zealand 🌴

[@itsmewende]

Any of us that want to pull our hair out dealing with Japanese beetles, want something to kill that larvae. I was also surprised that Mr Wickings didn't seem worried about the damage from jumping worms. Erin at The Impatient Gardener, mentioned mature trees at an arboretum in WI were taken down by jumping worms.

[@EighteenandCloudy]

Really interesting and informative, as always. I laughed (not at, with) hearing you pronounce "arse" the British English way too!

[@charlesbale8376]

I am fascinated by and want to know more about maintaining healthy soil communities.

[@jshkrueger]

Look up Jeff Lowenfels and his "Teaming with...." books. Also, Elaine Ingham.

[@judymckerrow6720]

Thank you Ms. Summer, that was very interesting. 🌸💚🙃

[@roguereemerged]

So happy to have found this video! Thank you!

[@helenehenkel]

It would be wonderful if you did a video on the spotted lantern fly

[@ja-uh9gz]

I've found some jumping worms in my garden. They are rigid, like Kyle said....almost muscular. They writhe wildly, and are quite aggressive...which I was taken back, when I picked one up. One year, there was a really large earthworm, I would say....about 8 inches long! It was casually crawling across the garden, then ducked back into the soil. The mother of worms!🤣 Lately, especially at night, I've been seeing very large slugs with spots (leopard slugs). They can get up to 8 inches long and are thick. In the morning, you can see their trail of slime on the sidewalk. They are beneficial. They eat decaying and rotting debris in the garden and eat grubs and other slugs. So...they help clean up the gardens. I leave them alone and basically, I try not to kill anything...as all garden life contributes to feeding and keeping everything balanced. I even found one large slug in my compost, but I removed it and put it elsewhere. I then read that they are good in composting, so now I know to leave them be. Long comment, but this was very interesting and fascinating how much life there is in one dug up plug of soil. It's another world. Thank you, Summer and Kyle.

[@gardennonsense]

I love the information on your videos. I feed my chickens, grubs and worms and didn't know that they carried diseases. One thing I wish you would have covered was larva and does larva carry diseases when feeding your chickens? Thank you and I appreciate you.💚💚💚

[@MagicalZach]

Great video . I think a big thing to consider would be if the grass your growing is native to your area . Watering and fertilizing shouldn’t be required if it’s native.

[@sunitashastry5270]

Thanks for covering this topic. It was very helpful getting a more nuanced and detailed account of earthworms. I knew quite a lot of material but I still learned a few new facts about them. It was very helpful.

[@TDN3052]

I didn't realize that red wrigglers were so delicate as far as the conditions they require. I haven't tried any vermicompost because I'm worried about releasing them into the landscape out of the compost bin (I'm trying to reforest part of my yard and don't want to add worms that aren't already there). Does this mean I don't have to worry too much as long as I only use red wrigglers? I realize it may not just be one straight forward simple answer, but it would still be a useful thing to know. Thanks!

[@heidis3993]

How interesting and informative this was! I especially liked learning that earthworms, and ants, drag stuff down some ways into the earth, and how some of this gets “mineralized,” if I have that right. And how the jumping worms operate just at the top, in the leaf litter. Also the discussion of pest pressure, and evaluating when it might be getting too much, while recognizing that it is usually fine, and something that the grass, in this case, can handle. And my hat is off to the State of California, for keeping pesticides away from children on playgrounds. I hope that they are addressing, or will be addressing, the health of the children of agricultural workers in the fields.

[@davidhuth5659]

I'm curious about the effect of rain on lawn as compared to a woodland or prairie ecosystem. It was my understanding that there is a lot of water loss on a lawn, similar to rain on pavement. I think this is one of the reasons to minimize lawn if my assumptions are correct.

[@jshkrueger]

There is very high variability in the ability of lawns to absorb water. It depends highly on how healthy the soil is and compaction. A healthy soil can absorb that water straight away. Most lawns have so much fertilizer added, however, the soil is not healthy. I stopped fertilizing completely, in the second year, now. I no longer have water pool in my yard, even during heavy rains. 😊

[@OldManse09]

I have always been suspicious of worms.

[@FireflyOnTheMoon]

why?

[@christophertaylor9826]

Great video 👍

[@micah_lee]

the soil ecosystem is so dynamic and enigmatic. It will be hard to fully quantify the change for soil with invasive biota, since they are underground and many natural systems are quietly being changed. I hope it can more quickly find a balance or the natives can win out (unlikely). I wonder if they cause similar danage as invasive plants and forest health pests, or if it is different.

[@JoyoftheGardenandHome]

Plenty of spazoids in my downstate hudson valley yard

[@cefcat5733]

Now we learned some more positives and some more really scientific, scary stuff too. How do I convince the guy who mows the grass, to adjust his distruction of green blades, to a higher level? I prefer wild fields, of course little snakes, mice and pheasants like to hide there too.I can hear the cricket songs already. Lawn smells and that of taller grass fields are also 2 different perfumes from which to choose. Enlightening video and am glad to have met your knowledgeable guest host and hear his perspective about the underground. That was fun to go exploring with you. 🎉THANKS.

[@TheEmbrio]

Only mow paths qnd a patch closer to human use ?!

[@micah_lee]

For me I only have a few qualms to lawns like what is shown here. There is always a middle ground: some are gung ho with the NO LAWN movement, and others are gung ho for their lawns. Like he said, it is clear that for most people their main input for their lawn is gas for a mower; no pesticides or fertilizers. It can create a dynamic system like shown here with BEAUTIFUL soil health and support microbiota that was shown in the video-all these things are great. But I posit that those benefits are just the benefits of having plants in the soil. Plants naturally create healthy soil compared to leaving it bare. So what are the qualms? Mowing supports many non-native plant species and can hurt native plants. The bush hog in the southeast has really taken a toll on native grasslands. So the problem is that a lawn is just a non-native plant community that reduces a plot of lands ability to contribute to the local ecosystem, essentially contributing to the detrimental effects of land conversion on the landscape. If instead we were able to have patches of native herbaceous plant communities we could effectively tie together the wild spaces. As of now, our urbanized environments often have great wild areas surrounding them often times, but inbetween we fill it with low cut yards that cut between and are useless for many insects and animals. As someone who mainly loves plants though, the lawn mower is really hurtinfg plant conservation and changing communities forever because it is replacing native plants with eurasian species that can tolerate frequent cutting.

[@TheEmbrio]

Maybe people should only have as much lawn as they can maintain with a helix push mower. I have a good one from Stihl, I think I have 500m2 5000sq ft, the rest is landscaped natives, food bearing plants, lovely flowers

[@joandavis3586]

What about jumping worms😊

[@mattchew5965]

Can only imagine what the world would be like if all the countries defense budgets went to people like this.

[@threelittlepixiiies2491]

My dad used to say, they eat leaves and shit out dirt...... you're walking on wormshit. I mean ..... yes they are beneficial.

[@TheEmbrio]

It’s strange he says there are no native earthworms in new york. Because a French earthworm specialist came to southern Quebec, not far away and more North, to study the difference in earthworms from europe. Both scientists could be right but there must be some missing info

[@FlockFingerLakes]

He shared there are native worms, but they primarily live in bog environments.

[@reyn66]

I would worm my yard birds with white bread soaked in whole warm milk. My tummy is gurgling just thinking about it.

[@gardengatesopen]

What was life like without earthworms... ? Excellent thought!! I guess I'm about to find out since I've got jumping worms over here on Central Texas. And I'm trying hard to erradicate them completely. I mean... THAT'S my goal. Who knows what will happen... I keep thinking that perhaps sometime in the future I may be able to re-introduce the beneficial earthworm... Or Maybe not! I may be better off without them?!

[@jimini1976]

Utube aluminum ant colony👍

[@rjaquaponics9266]

soil scientists that doesn't recommend fertilizer!

[@gautamchandrasekharan3]

Lawns are an abomination

[@FireflyOnTheMoon]

Dogs and cats never help matters