Should I buy Red Wigglers to populate my raised bed garden?

It would be really nice if I had red wigglers running all over my garden. I'm told it can't be done because they're composting worms. Then I thought... wait a minute! They were around long before humans began officially composting in bins.

One person advises that red wigglers won't survive winter here. But, another tells me that their eggs will overwinter and I'll have a new batch of baby worms come spring. So, nature has taken care of that part. Then I'm told that they eat food scraps and not decayed material in the soil, so they will starve to death if not in a compost bin. But another one tells me that's ok too, because they also eat decaying wood particles, compost and manure in my soil, and the decaying woodchip mulch in my pathways.

The soil sucks, because I just bought it and put it into my freshly built raised beds last month. It appears to be a mix of sand, manure, and wood fines. The wood mulch in the pathways is actually playground wood chips (softwood with no bark) because I couldn't get arborist wood chips. In another month, my plants will be big enough that I can start chopping and dropping leaves to mulch the raised beds.

Does a permie have a definitive answer to the question: Should I buy Red Wigglers to populate my raised bed garden?

thank you

My understanding is that red wigglers only live in "fresh" compost and do not travel into normal soil. My recollection is that red wiggler eggs only hatch in the presence of compost (the eggs can survive a deep freeze though) . Compost doesn't need to be in a bin (i.e. you can add them to a free standing compost pile).

One way to keep them in the garden is to make a submerged worm-tower (a perforated pipe in the ground with top above the soil, removable cap to keep critters out), or a similar submerged compost pit. The perforations allow subsoil life to transport nutrients out of the compost pit. Being submerged may help the worms overwinter better. Perhaps insulate the top of the tower in the winter.

https://www.geofflawtononline.com/2016/03/02/how-to-build-a-worm-tower/

See also: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/subpod-the-ultimate-composting-system#/

i am in New Orleans (Zone 9)
but they stay alive here.
i have a few raised beds, and between the plants i keep cardboard on top
and often wood-chips or dry-grass on top of the cardboard.
under it, i often add food scraps, coffee grounds, dry grass etc...
those worms will eat decomposing leaves and plant material also.
but my food scraps (mostly fruit peels and veggies) + coffee grounds is a lot of food for them.

i see them fairly often, and they are definitely red-wrigs.
i even found one 4ft in the air, inside a decomposing sunflower stalk.
it was 20ft from the beds. they are all over my yard now.
i do a LOT of chop+drop though.
but the cardboard is perfect to keep the moisture in and sun out.
i just have to add another layer 2-3 times per year.

carlson yeung wrote:It would be really nice if I had red wigglers running all over my garden. I'm told it can't be done because they're composting worms. Then I thought... wait a minute! They were around long before humans began officially composting in bins.

One person advises that red wigglers won't survive winter here. But, another tells me that their eggs will overwinter and I'll have a new batch of baby worms come spring. So, nature has taken care of that part. Then I'm told that they eat food scraps and not decayed material in the soil, so they will starve to death if not in a compost bin. But another one tells me that's ok too, because they also eat decaying wood particles, compost and manure in my soil, and the decaying woodchip mulch in my pathways.

The soil sucks, because I just bought it and put it into my freshly built raised beds last month. It appears to be a mix of sand, manure, and wood fines. The wood mulch in the pathways is actually playground wood chips (softwood with no bark) because I couldn't get arborist wood chips. In another month, my plants will be big enough that I can start chopping and dropping leaves to mulch the raised beds.

Does a permie have a definitive answer to the question: Should I buy Red Wigglers to populate my raised bed garden?

thank you

Worms will find you. Native ones that will survive. Take care of the soil and the worms will multiply your efforts.

J Webb wrote:
One way to keep them in the garden is to make a submerged worm-tower (a perforated pipe in the ground with top above the soil, removable cap to keep critters out), or a similar submerged compost pit. The perforations allow subsoil life to transport nutrients out of the compost pit. Being submerged may help the worms overwinter better. Perhaps insulate the top of the tower in the winter.

https://www.geofflawtononline.com/2016/03/02/how-to-build-a-worm-tower/

See also: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/subpod-the-ultimate-composting-system#/

Interesting. I built an African style keyhole bed with a wire/reed fencing "basket" in the middle for scraps. When I move the straw I see lots of worms and have wondered if I should buy some red wigglers to throw in there. Perhaps I should just be happy with the worms that showed up? They are small and red, not the giant earthworms. I wonder what breed they are?

We got tired of our red wriggler worm farm and retired them to the garden (zone . It’s been about three years and we haven’t seen any in a while. The garden is now full of regular earth worms and everything else that composts plant material. Just keep feeding the soil, worms are just a pice of the puzzle. If you have bugs eating your plants, don’t kill them, feed them more. We had major problems with cutworms, slugs and everything else eating our seedlings. We found out all you have to do is feed them and they will be happy. Never leave a seedling out in bare dirt, it’ll be done the next day.

Big tip: Watch the wasps. The day I saw them eat a horn worm was the last day I killed them.

Old post, but I wrote a guide about this on my website Hungry Worms, copy and pasted here;

There are 3 main types of earthworms that live in the soil profile. They do not all have the same ecological niches/natural habitats.


Composting worms are 'Epigeic' Earthworms. They prefer to live only the top several inches of the soil profile - in decaying organic matter rather than soil itself. Because they prefer to live in leaf litter, they do not make burrows like other kinds of earthworms.

The kinds of earthworms that do prefer to live in the soil, are Endogeic and Anecic Earthworms. These are the ones you see in your yard as you are digging, or you find after a heavy rain. They make burrows throughout the soil that can be multiple feet deep, and are the "earth worker" earthworms.

In the North Americas, these Anecic earthworms are invasive and do harm to our forest soil profiles by mixing the different horizons together. Epigeic worms do not pose the same threat as they remain in just the O horizon.


Composting Worms in soils/raised beds


Composting worms are the fastest worms for eating organic matter and creating worm castings. If an area is suitable for them, they will improve a soil tremendously.

However, their success depends on how suitable their environment is for them.

If, for example, you have a raised bed that has been filled with compost, leaves, straw, manure etc., the composting worms can do extremely well.

If you have soil with very little organic matter, they will not be in their natural habitat and won't be able to demonstrate their effectiveness nearly as much.


Earthworker Worms in soils/raised beds


"Earthworker" worm's are especially effective at aerating soil through their burrowing/tunneling. They also produce worm castings, but not as fast as composting worms can.

Unfortunately it is difficult to grow endogeic/anecic earthworms in mass like composting worms due to their natural lifestyle, and I would be hesitant to purchase them to apply to your soil anyway because it could be difficult to get them established.

Fortunately, if you're growing in the ground directly, or your raised bed is connected to the ground, you have access to the largest earthworm farm that sells their worms for free!

You can help attract these worms to your soil, and encourage them to reproduce too, in the same way that you can help establish composting worms.


How to Establish a Worm Population in Your Soil


For all kinds of worms the method is the same; Moisture and Organic matter!

The more aerobically decomposing organic matter in (or on) your soil, the more worms will be attracted to it to it. However worms don't want to risk dehydration, and will choose water over food so make sure there you have moisture to help encourage them too.

Moisture will stay more consistent deeper in the soil, so pay extra attention to moisture levels in the top 3-6 inches for your epigeic/composting worms because they won't go much deeper in soil.


Encouraging Earthworker Worms

For endogeic and anecic earthworms, my recommendation is "If you build it, they will come."

These worms are practically everywhere, just in higher or smaller densities. They will come to you.

I suppose you could go dig up these worms and add them directly as long as you make sure they are able to get underneath the soil and build themselves a burrow, but I really don't think that would be time efficient and I'm not sure what the survival rate would be - but I'm not really an expert on these kinds of worms specifically so maybe it could work well.

Add organic matter, do what you can to keep the soil moist, and you'll see them show up.


Establishing Composting Worms

There are a few ways I do this in a soil.

Adding them directly by mixing them into the soil and hoping for the best. The more organic matter and moisture, the better their chances and the better the chances that earthworker worms show up.

Use an in-ground worm composter such as the Sub-Pod. This will give you a defined area that you can optimize for worms, but will still allow for them to travel throughout the rest of your soil as they choose. It'll also be easier for you to check on the general health of the worms because they will be a lot easier to find in the subpod instead of digging through the soil to look for them. The Sub-pod will also help attract earthworker worms already in your soil.

(What I feel is the best) Start a normal above-ground worm bin to help you learn how to keep worms happy in general, easily harvest pure worm castings directly, and then (the main reason I like this method) you can use that as a renewing source of worms to fuel method 1 or 2. You can also use the worm castings harvested from this bin to add to your soil to improve it's quality.