Growing Earthworms

M

Matt W

AC Members
Jul 30, 2003
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Jacksonville, FL
codewalkers.com
OK, so I thought rather than digging in the backyard everytime I wanted a worm I would build a worm box and breed earthworms.

Well, I built the box, filled it with peat moss and tossed in about 30 freshly caught earthworms that were about 4-5 inches long each. Its been a couple of months now and I can't even find a worm in the box. I am guessing they all died.

I have been sprinkling 'Quaker Oats' on top of the peat occassionally. At first, it would be gone within a couple of days. Now, it just sits there and gets moldy, further confirming my suspicions that the worms are all dead.

The question is, why did they die? What have I done wrong? Can anyone with any experience give me some pointers? I thought earthworms would be easy!
 
I don't have much recent experience with earthworms, though I've kept a redworm composting box to get rid of kitchen scraps. When I was a kid we had a lakehouse, and my grandfather had turned an old refridgerator on its side and filled it with soil to make a worm box (for fishing bait). We used earthworms in that and I used to go play with the worms in it a lot, it was composted leaf litter for the soil with leaves and occasionally kitchen scraps or oats thrown in. We had it for several years until neighboring boys started stealing his worms (weird to think of someone stealing worms). He then attempted to padlock it, but keeping it that much closed turned out to be disasterous since a heat wave pretty much cooked them all.

More recently I've kept redworms, you can buy premade worm boxes for this that are easy and odor free to load kitchen scraps into, or you can find a website with a do-it-yourself project suggestion. Then you can order the redworms from gardening catalogs or websites (no digging!). They tend to multiply beyond the capacity of the box so you shouldn't have trouble if you use a good number of them for fish food. If you do this be sure not to use any meat or dairy kitchen scraps.

Worms are sensitive to the soil being too wet or too dry (they like it about the same dampness as most plants do - the same moistness as a wrung out sponge. They are also sensitive to extremes in temperatures. When a worm is outside it digs deeper to avoid being too cold or hot, but cannot do so in its box. Another problem is once they have been living in a box for a while their droppings build up, and these are actually toxic to other worms if they happen to eat them. It's good to change the substrate out completely once in a while.

If you have access to it I'd recommend compost rather than peat moss. Peat moss holds moisture very well, but it is difficult to wet it through in the first place. When it dries out, it's hard to rewet it again. Compost stays at a more consistent moisture range which worms prefer. I'd also mix the oats or other food into the soil rather than sprinkling it on top. Also, be sure they don't actually run out of food, they may be eating it faster than you replace it.

Temperature wise they prefer it at room temp or a little cooler.
 
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