Soldiers of the Soil

By FOES-LAMB,Philippa

Earthworms are an integral part of the gardening world. Philippa Foes-Lamb talks to Robert Luman of Stoke about his passion for these fascinating creatures.

Robert Luman lives and breathes earthworms. There is simply no other way to describe his passion for these amazing invertebrates that work tirelessly in our soil.

Rob’s first experience with worms was very much like every other young Kiwi. “My first encounter with worms happened when I was a child catching them for trout fishing. I thought all they were good for was eating dirt, food for the birds and bait for fishing,” Rob said.

“I’ve always been a keen gardener and I remember watching a worm quite a few years ago in my small garden. It came out of a burrow, grabbed a leaf and took it back down into its burrow. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

His interest in worm farming was aroused eight years ago. “I moved into a two-bedroom house on a 500sq m section. After cutting the grass, I used to leave the clippings to dry off a bit and then rake them alongside the fence.

“At the time I was making clay and plaster pot holders and I’d put the leftover scrap material on top of the grass clippings and water it in. I also added any worms I found while I was gardening.

“There was a tree growing by the fence and a few months later I noticed that the foliage on one side of the tree was growing really well. There was almost double the amount of foliage on my side of the fence compared to the other. I also noticed that there was new topsoil in my grass mix and hundreds of worms.”

Rob knew he must be doing something right and was interested to find out what.

“My quest for answers began later that same day when I headed to the Stoke Library and borrowed a book titled Earthworms in New Zealand, by Amy Brown.

“While reading the book I was amazed by the facts and figures about worms and could understand why the tree was so healthy on the side of the fence where I had my grass, plaster, clay and worm mix.

“I learned the lime in the plaster would help break down the grass, at the same time heating it slightly and creating nitrogen. The plaster would also release calcium and the clay contributed minerals. The new topsoil was called vermicast or worm cast.

“Vermicast is high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It also contains small amounts of secondary nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron and trace elements including zinc, boron, cobalt, molybdenum, sulphur, copper, chlorine and manganese. These are also essential for healthy plants.”

Rob started farming worms in earnest, using old bathtubs at first. “You need to be careful how much blood and bone and lime you add. I got a bit carried away and added a bit too much which caused a population explosion – I had 50kg of worms at one stage”, Rob laughed.

Rob farms worms in his compost heap now. There are two types of worms in Rob’s heap – earth workers and compost worms. Each type performs a different function.

“Earth workers are pretty large. They dig burrows, digesting tiny particles in their path. When they swallow very small stones or sand, these pass through a calciferous gland where they get a coating of calcium. This helps break the stones or sand down, releasing minerals. They also remain in the worm’s gizzard grinding down food particles into smaller pieces, which in turn are digested more quickly in the worm’s stomach.

“Earth workers like living around trees, burrowing deep alongside their root systems. They back their rear ends out of their burrows and excrete vermicast on the surface. This vermicast is water soluble so when it rains it slowly dissolves and goes back down the burrows, and is then readily available as a food source for the plant.”

Compost worms are the easiest to farm.

“They like living near the surface in areas with lots of food – grass, leaves and rotting wood for, example. They can eat almost anything organic such as kitchen scraps, paper, cardboard, hair, cotton or sawdust. Compost worms also need moisture in their living environment.”

The most common type of compost worm is the tiger worm, eisenia foetida. Tiger worms are much smaller than the burrowing types and can be easily recognised by their stripes.

“Tiger worms are most active when the temperature is around 20degC. They breed every seven to 10 days and the breeding process takes 24 hours to accomplish. Being hermaphrodites, they both get pregnant.

“Their eggs can be seen with the naked eye. They are around 2- 5mm long and are shaped like a lemon.”

The colour of the eggs varies depending on where the worm is living – green if it is living in grass and brown if it is living in compost. “In winter when the temperature drops to around 5degC they become sluggish, will not breed and will only eat one-third of their body weight.

Two years ago Rob started a worm farm at the Tahuna Beach Holiday Park.

“I was talking to the manager and he told me the gardener had suggested it would be a good idea to have a worm farm at the park. I mentioned that I was a worm farmer and it started from there.”

It was good timing because by this stage Rob already had 50kg of worm at his home farm so they went to the holiday park. “The farm is 25m long and there must be well over a million worms there now. The first harvest yielded about 20 cubic metres of vermicast.

“I have used a trench method with this worm farm. With this method organic matter is placed in the trench and the worms `eat’ their way forwards. I then make the trench longer and add more organic matter, and so it goes on.”

The park was spending a considerable amount a year on taking all their waste to the tip. Now it all gets mulched and all leaves and tree waste goes into the farm, resulting in wonderful compost.

“The gardener’s budget goes towards plants now, rather than buying in compost and this is helping to beautify the park.”

Rob manages the worm farm and this takes about 5-10 hours a fortnight. “The worms must be kept moist so I need to water them every couple of days in the summer and at other times during the year when there is little or no rainfall. Their environment must be aerobic.

“A good motto to use is `too dry they die, too wet they sweat’.”

If you want to start a worm farm, you first need to decide whether you want to farm them in a compost heap or in specifically designed bins.

The above-ground bins are perfect for small areas such as apartment balconies or town courtyards and have the added advantage of allowing you to easily collect the “juice” or worm tea, which results from moisture draining from the upper bins.

The tea is a light reddish-brown colour and contains micro- organisms. It is very acidic and needs to be diluted at a ratio of 20:1. This makes perfect liquid food for all of your trees, shrubs, perennials and vegetables.

Follow the instructions that come with your bins and you will soon be producing a fair amount of vermicast. You can harvest any worm tea that collects at the very bottom of the stack as soon as it starts to appear.

Whichever method you choose to use, you can buy in tiger worms to get your farm going or you can get a bucket or two of fresh vermicast which will also contain worm eggs.

Many gardeners know the old wives’ tale – cut a worm in half and you get two worms.

“If you cut the worm about halfway along its body, the head end has a good chance of surviving, however the tail end is incapable of growing a new head,” Rob said.

To a worm, a garden spade is a lethal weapon, they much prefer garden forks as there’s less chance of being hit.

Rob supplies vermicast to a local company that produces compost tea which is then sprayed on to dairy farms.

Earthworms are incredible creatures. Said Rob: “I love worms because of the enormous benefit they do for the environment. I really believe without them, we wouldn’t be here.”

One thing is for certain, Rob is helping to ensure they thrive in his corner of the world. Worm-farm bins are available from Mitre 10 Mega. Pamphlets are available from the Nelson City Council and the Tasman District Council.

The Nelson City Council pamphlet gives excellent information on how to set up and maintain a worm farm as well as offering a discount on the bins.

The Tasman District Council offers a discount on worm-farm bins or worms. Both list participating retailers.

If you would like vermicast or more information on worm farming in general, Rob can be contacted at (03) 547 6716.

——————–

(c) 2007 Nelson Mail, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.