From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Colorado Springs.Co

I just added a trailer load of horse manure to the patch and started adding worms from the worm bin. My question is will they spread out on their own or should I spread them out like you would amendments?

3/8/2009 4:28:28 PM

Oz

The more you spread them,the sooner they get all over.

3/8/2009 9:32:58 PM

Upstate S.C.

They will move in the direction of most organic matter..However i would think that if you spead them alittle it may make it alittle easier.

3/8/2009 10:01:02 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Correct me if I am wrong but I beleive the worms from your worm bin will not thrive in your garden. Now Night Crawlers abd garden worms are another story..If you have them already they multiply quickly in a good environment.

3/9/2009 7:55:26 AM

Gays Mills, Wisconsin

As I understand it, if your worms are red wigglers they'll travel to food sources primarily in the top few inches of soil. Spread them around if the food source is spreaded around. Nightcrawlers are deep dwellers that'll do alot more for your soil structure, tilth and aeration they'll travel faster and quicker to their food source so you could get by without spreading them around so much. I raise nightcrawlers to sell as fishing bait and their pure castings but any extras would be great for the patch. Good luck. John

3/9/2009 10:16:51 AM

Santa Rosa, CA

Linus made an excellent point. Most people have "red wiggler" worms in their worm bins. They do not do well in soil.

However, I found that by dumping the worm castings in a spot in the garden and by covering it with straw, they will do OK. (Basically, it is the enviornment they were in). As I use the castings, I put the worms back into the bin.

Botom line, they may not survive unless the soil has tons of organic matter.

3/9/2009 10:21:23 AM

Colorado Springs.Co

There are worms I threw in the patch last year still squirming around. I dug around before I added more. The patch has as much OM as the bin. Thanks for getting back.

3/9/2009 3:02:42 PM

Minnesota

Mine did there thing, I had red wigglers for 7 months in a bin, dumped the worms and the castings into my planting hole, they lived thru the summer, they did great, to see them all I did was put some coffee grounds or manure on top and they come up to eat it.

3/9/2009 5:14:17 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

I think you guys think they do great...as they do not survive in northern climates

3/9/2009 7:05:34 PM

Eastern Washington State

Seems to me that spreading them around can't hurt any. However what Shannon said makes sense. Odds are that they'll die. So what? As long as you are dumping on the organic matter like you are, the local, adapted worm species are going to reproduce pretty quickly and you'll be covered.

3/9/2009 8:24:46 PM

Minnesota

I heard they do die in the winter, the red wigglers.

3/9/2009 10:04:56 PM

Colorado Springs.Co

Mine are thriving and we have been as low as minus 6 degrees.

3/9/2009 10:26:48 PM

Colorado Springs, Co ([email protected])

actually, they can live, however they will not thrive. they will slow down so much during the cold months that they are pretty much useless.
the further apart they are, the harder its going to be for them to find each other to mate and breed. that's the whole reason we use worm bins to increase the size of the herds quickly and then divide the bins to create more compost or castings. you will find a few still remaining in your garden here or there but your om is gonna have to be around 50% for them to proliferate. They breed according to space and available food.

3/10/2009 10:38:10 AM

Colorado Springs, Co ([email protected])

so when you take into consideration, your giving more space yes, but harder for them to find each other, the food source just became more scarce so they are in survival mode so they wont breed because of lack of abundance of food source.

3/10/2009 10:39:53 AM