The three types of Worms & What They Do

[@drhoy15]

Red wrigglers are Eicenia Foetida. Only here in NS when someone has bought them. They over winter and thrive here if you have a very large compost pile. I have a 8ft high 20 ft by 20ft pile of old rotting leaves. I just recently found a 2ft diameter clump of E. Foetida that we’re doing really well. They were about a foot down. Sometimes in the winter I have put my tractor bucket in the pile to dig some of the unfrozen decomposed leaves up so that. Can make an organic rich potting soil for starting seeds. In the middle of winter the ‘balls’ of worms are typically about 2-3 feet down. With all the slowly rotting leaves there is enough heat so that it is not frozen. I introduced the worms about 8 years ago. By the way, my tip for long term compost to use as mulch or as part of potting mix is to collect as many leaves as you can every year. Just pile them up and use as needed. You will need 2-3 years to get started. I started 10 years ago and have collected about 3-4 hundred bags a year. I typically remove about 3 or 4 yards of material each year for garden building, improving and potting.

[@mtadventures5006]

My former boss lived next to the shop. One day his wife called me. "Can you come run off this snake, it's in the step and I cant get in the house." I come in the back gate to see the largest "wild" nightcrawler of my life. Lol. It was well over a foot long and almost as big around as my pinky. The only time I've ever seen one close to that size was in my biology class in highschool. I tried real hard not to laugh at the deadly poisonous nightcrawler guarding the door. Lol

[@maritimegardening4887]

That's funny :) It would be great to have an army of those in my garden!

[@mtadventures5006]

@@maritimegardening4887 oh, ya. I relocated him to the woods out back but I'm sure there were plenty more. They keep wood chips and compost in the flower gardens and water every day.

[@chrisclyde4490]

@@mtadventures5006 awesome!!

[@katipohl2431]

Eisenia fetida the Red #CompostWorm bulids a network of horizontal and vertical tunnels prefering the upper 15 cm of the soil and around 25 degrees celsius. Their activity is night and day, having a maximal offspring of 300 babies per year with about 10 eggs per cocoon. Here in Germany we have 46 different worm species and some dig tunnels of 3 m depth or deeper. Earthworms help aerating the soil and the tunnels help with draining water at floods.

[@maritimegardening4887]

They are amazing helpers I agree :)

[@shadyman6346]

Absolutely excellent video! I learned a lot that I didn’t know.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Glad it was helpful!

[@michaelboom7704]

This year I have set up my old broken fridge with red wigglers. I have taken a portion of them out for the winter to use for restarting next spring in case they cannot survive in that fridge being frozen.I like this short portion of your podcast.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks man. It's a lot more work to break it up into pieces but I've noticed the viewers seems to like it that way so I think I'll stick with this approach when I have guests since it seems to naturally break up in to segments.

[@fxm5715]

My copy of Mr. Reid's book just arrived yesterday, based on the conversation you posted with him in MGP 104, and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@maritimegardening4887]

That's great - glad you're enjoying it :)

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Excellent video, I love worms and I love raising them. My favorites are European night crawlers

[@tdtrecordsmusic]

What are the 3 types of worms ? & what do they do ? I watched the vid 2x and I think u guys only talked about nightcrawlers & red wigglers. I could be wrong.

[@ladylady1]

I believe there 2 types of night crawlers and the red worm. Now, I just may be wrong. 🤷‍♀️

[@theelpydimension]

@@ladylady1 There are three kinds of worms that are categorized by the layers of soil they occupy and how they burrow in them. At least that's what little I know.

[@michaellippmann4474]

Great video Greg....the stuff you learn! I know we have always had lots of worms here but we use no chemicals on our plot of land. The garden though has exploded with worms since I went no till. Back in the day when I used my roto tiller I had worms but not like now! Amazing! Every handful of soil or mulch results in worms, so that is really encouraging...also why I have so many robins here digging up worms! Thanks for the great video and talk with Mr Reid! Mike 👍😁🇨🇦

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks for sharing

[@joshuabruno]

I want my worm nerd talk presented at 144 FPS, 4K

[@KekeLight8]

I went into my. Garden this season, and I'm finding green. Worms in with the red. what are they?

[@maritimegardening4887]

probably this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allolobophora_chlorotica#:~:text=Allolobophora%20chlorotica%20(commonly%20known%20as,the%20underside%20of%20the%20clitellum.

[@KekeLight8]

Thank you. The ones in my garden are much darker green. They look the same as the other Earth Worms, just a dark green color. The only difference to that bed was that we put in a new driveway last year, and that garden bed is right next to it. They look odd. Thank you again.

[@allon33]

Here in the desert of Australia, not always worms showing up, so I bought 1000 red.

[@barbarakornegay9864]

I asked my husband to pick up a couple of containers of worms for my garden, OMG, these are the bigest nightcrawlers I have ever seen. Will they kill all my plant starters? I was planning to make a compost bucket with holes for them. Is this not a good idea with these type of worms? Please help

[@maritimegardening4887]

Your plants should be fine

[@DavidMFChapman]

I did not understand the distinction between types 2 and 3. My backyard composter is full of worms where there is actively decaying organic matter. I did not put any there, they just showed up. I don’t care what kind they are, but they’re working.

[@maritimegardening4887]

According to the book - they are similar in terms of behaviors - but the "forest floor" worms are smaller than red wigglers. I don't think the conversation bore that out. I think it's quite likely that I have both in my garden since it's next to a forest, and I often bring in stuff from the forest floor to my garden.

[@sislertx]

I love.worms ...got me a worm bin thing after.years of homemade ones but i MOVED AND NOWNITS.TOO HOT AND DRY AND I CANT HAVE ESCAPING WORMS IN THE HOUSE. WHATS.A PERSON TO.DO

[@luckychicav7981]

Hello Greg, Interesting! I mentioned recently that I’m happy when I see an earthworm 🐛 in my garden. I never used to see any. It is Too dry, too many rocks and not enough good soil here. I’m slowly adding natural organic material leaves and compost to help, but now I’m afraid to buy compost because last year it was tinted and not just here in the States, Charles Dowding also had some bad compost. He is now testing his before adding it to his bed. Anyways another great video, thank you.😉

[@maritimegardening4887]

Interesting!

[@jamisonbrooks]

The jumping worm are such big eaters that they run out of food

[@uchibauki2515]

I live in texas and my backyard has very hard clay soil and rarely see earthworms 🪱

[@maritimegardening4887]

Keep it mulched, give it time - they'll grow in number if they have the conditions they want

[@AAHomeGardening]

My boys thinks worms are pet, they play with them in garden

[@tourmaline7742]

The yellow balls are most likely fertilizer. When you buy plants, they often been fed with slow release fertilizer balls: yourindoorherbs.com/what-are-yellow-orange-balls-in-soil-should-you-be-worried/

[@eldonelder7254]

Here is a description of jumping worms: hort.extension.wisc.edu/jumping-worms/

[@lgprimesounds349]

A grub worm

[@antiowarr9467]

was interested until you mention "ice age" never was an ice age, ever. sorry I guess we have a different thinking about earth worms also.

[@BigAl1234567AlBig]

Ok....

[@maritimegardening4887]

My sentiments exactly :)

[@AkamiChannel]

? Of course there has been but you might consider that we are technically still in it, in an interglacial period

[@antiowarr9467]

@@AkamiChannel No my friend there was never ever an ice age at any time on this earth. never was and never will be.

[@AkamiChannel]

@@antiowarr9467 and I guess next you will tell me that evolution isn't real