Why no worms?

lofty010247, May 11, 4:43am
Have dug vege patch over today prior to throwing on some lupin seeds and only saw a couple of worms. What can we do? Is there something the ground lacks? The vege patch used to be overhung by pine trees so was never what you'd call successful but now the trees are gone we are hoping to get a better harvest

maddie44, May 11, 6:19am
Is it really dry where you are?
We had no worms a couple of years ago after a long dry spell

wheelz, May 11, 6:36am
Add in some good compost. vege scraps too, you'll soon have worms back.
Over use of synthetic fertilisers can deter worms too. Use blood and bone, sheep pellets etc.

lythande1, May 11, 2:09pm
Worms move. They go down when it's cold, they follow the food - so will move to where the compost is.

Put the compost heap on the garden, they'll soon be back.

lofty010247, May 11, 7:20pm
thanx for the replies . We have been using our compost so sounds like the lack of water may well be the problem . forecast has us getting rain in next few days so will see what happens.

maddie44, May 11, 7:36pm
For us it certainly wasn't lack of compost , there were no worms in the compost either.

malcovy, May 11, 7:46pm
Worms love moist ground but not sodden of course.

icfig, May 11, 9:00pm
It is possible the ground is too acidic. Lime or dolomite might make a huge difference as will humus eg compost or sheep pellets or horse manure incorporated into the soil. Worms should migrate back.

bluefrog2, May 12, 4:22am
I don't usually get a lot of earthworms in the vege beds, even in the wet. Worms are there to eat rotting vegetable matter. In most vegetable beds, you won't have a lot of still rotting material unless, for example, you've just dumped compost from the bin on the potatoes to earth them up.
I think the worms also avoid chemical fertilisers, so unless you're fertilising with manure, they might avoid vegetable beds with residual chemical fertilisers, or newly added chemical fertilisers.

gem661, May 13, 2:11am
Adding sifted coffee grinds helps create a bigger worm population.

twain1, May 13, 2:31pm
Worms need a high pH so it doesnt matter how much coffee grounds or compost you add, if its too acidic, they wont work well. And coffee grounds are very acidic as well

gem661, May 13, 7:56pm
Oh well, must be doing something right here then, as we have an absolute abundance of worms. Over two years now since we started and developed beautiful food gardens from a deficient soil site here. Barely a worm to be seen at the out set of the project. Fed the gardens with coffee grounds, compost, lawn mower clippings, organic liquid fertiliser,organic chicken and horse manure.
They are fair humming along. Worms aplenty. Chooks love 'em!

maccachic1, May 13, 8:25pm
Flat worms kill garden worms - have you got them?

lofty010247, May 16, 8:26pm
looks like we have work lined up this w/end . thanx all!

venna2, Jan 8, 11:42am
I stopped putting vege scraps into the compost some time ago when I found rats there, and now I dig it straight into spare patches in the vegetable garden. Plenty of worms. I put horse manure around the fruit trees, and grass clippings when I mow the lawns. That's a good point about artificial fertilisers in vege scraps - a good reason to buy organic ones, or grow one's own.