How to attract earthworms to your garden.
Having earthworms in your garden benefits your plants and improves the soil. They are also known as farmer’s friends as they help to plough the soil thereby loosening the soil and helping plants to penetrate their roots into it. Earthworm manure also called as worm castings is a great fertiliser for plants. They contain loads of minerals like nitrates, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium and calcium that help in plant growth. Find out how to attract earthworms to the garden.
Types of earthworms
There are three main types of earthworms they are:
1.Compost Worm
This type of worm lives within 12 cm of the topsoil. These worms are not found in garden soil but they live in heaps of manure and leaf piles. They prefer to bury randomly through the topsoil. The main species of these compost worms include Manure worms (Eisenia fetida) and Red wrigglers( Lumbricus Rubellus)
2. Earthworker Worm
These worms are found in garden soil. They make vertical burrows a few feet deep. They eat soil and specific dry leaves. An example of this is the Lumbricus Terrestris.
3. Root Dwelling Worm
These worms are deep burrowers and they live in plant roots. They are not found above the ground. An example of this is Australian Megascolides and Didymogaster sylvaticus.
How to attract earthworms to the garden
Earthworms are attracted to a garden that contains lots of organic content and the right kind of soil. They contain 80% of water, and they need moisture to live. At the same time, too much water can drown them. The right kind of soil required for them is Sandy loam soil. The soil pH must be between 6 to 7 for earthworms to live. Earthworms do not like soil that is too acidic.
Earthworms love to eat. They consume 50 to 100% of their body weight in a day. They feed on dry leaves, food scraps, oatmeal, cornmeal, cardboard, eggshells, newspapers and composted manure. Earthworms do not like meat, fish, cheese, or butter. greasy and spicy foods. They also do not like foods that contain citrus content. Using chemicals and pesticides repels worms so they must be avoided. When you bury food that earthworms love in your garden regularly you will start to find them in your garden in a few months.
When there is the right kind of soil and food for worms to live they start to reproduce. Worms can double in population within 60 days. Having lots of earthworms is a sign of a healthy garden.