What Do You Really Know About Earthworms and Your Garden Soil?

While tilling my garden for the first time this spring, I noticed I was not turning up many earthworms. Knowing that earthworms are an important part to having rich organic soil, I started to get concerned until I realized the soil was still too cold. The lingering winter had not warmed the upper layers of soil enough to entice the earthworms out of their warm winter homes, which are about two to three feet below the surface. Concern for my wiggly friends got me to thinking about how beneficial earthworms are to gardeners.

Do earthworms make organic matter?

It is sort of a misnomer to think that earthworms make rich organic soil, because earthworms do not make, but help in the process. Earthworms drag live debris such as leaves into the soil where it is broken down into the bacteria that forms the organic matter in rich soil. They then drag the fertile soil up when they come to the surface. Thus the more organic matter you have in your garden, the more likely you are to have an abundance of earthworms. Their tunneling also creates aeration and drainage in the soil, which helps plants grow.

Earthworms on the move

An earthworm travels easily in soft, moist soil, using the hooked bristles on its body to help it maneuver. It first anchors it hind section and then pushes its front forwards. When it has stretched out, it anchors it front using the bristles and then draws up the hind section. If the soil is hard, it will eat its way through, depositing its casts (coiled heaps of dirt), along the way. Some will wait and eject their casts on the grounds surface, while some accumulate them in their burrows.

How earthworms reproduce

Even though earthworms have both male and female sex organs, they rarely self-fertilize. Depending on the species, two earthworms come together on either the soil surface or underground and lay head to tail. They exchange sperm through slimy mucus that covers their bodies. Each earthworm's eggs are laid in a membrane sack positioned near the clitellum (thick glandular section of the body wall ) . As the sack breaks away, it slides down the earthworm's body, picking up sperm along the way. After the fertilized, egg-filled membrane fully detaches from the worm, it forms a cocoon around the eggs for protection. After a few months, the eggs hatch hundreds of baby worms.

Earthworm myths

I think everyone has heard the old wives tale that when an earthworm is cut in half, the ends will heal and the earthworm, now two, will continue to live and grow. This of course is not true. What is true is if the tail or head segments are cut off, they will grow back about a couple months.

Also from this contributor:

Little Known Facts About Bugs

How to Make Bug Juice to Deter Japanese Beetles and Other Bugs

Beneficial Insects - Bugs that Help a Garden

Sources: Dictionary.com, Master Gardener Classes, urbanext.illinois.edu