Worm Grunting or Charming the Worms

There are three main ways of catching worms, and quite a few variations. Worm Grunting is the American expression for this technique and it is done by rubbing a piece of flat metal, such as a lawn mower blade or a saw blade, across the top of a tree stump. The friction creates a grunting or moaning sound that causes the earthworms to pop up to the surface, where they can be gathered. This is traditionally done in the southern states of the United States on public lands and the worms are sold as fishing bait. The tradition of worm grunting was first described by Charles Kurault in a report on CBS Sunday Morning over 40 years ago, when he visited Sopchoppy, Florida, and the tradition continues as reported in a recent report updated on June 12, 2009 by Steve Hartman.

Charming the Worms is the expression used in the United Kingdom and there are two main techniques. One is to stick a tuning fork in the ground and strike it. The vibration will again cause the worms to come to the surface. Alternatively, a pitchfork can be stuck in the ground and struck to produce the vibration. The English method has the additional advantage that there isn't always a convenient stump in the meadow from which you wish to harvest worms, and it might be inconvenient to cut one, so you can just carry your pitchfork or tuning fork with you and take it back with you when you leave.

The World Worm Charming Championship takes place every year at Willaston near Nantwich, in England. There is a competition for who can get the most worms to come to the surface at one time. It was celebrated this year on June 28, 2009, and the winner was 10 year old Sophie Smith. Since the winner is decided by the number of worms, that means that someone has to count them. The festival was reported in the United States on National Public Radio and you can listen to a free broadcast of the report for June 28th, 2009 on their website; it is widely reported in England in many media.

There are two main advantages to worm grunting and allied techniques for worm hunting. The first is that it isn't necessary to dig them up, which would be a lot of work. The second is that since there are no marks from digging, you can do this on your neighbor's land or on government property and no one will be the wiser, so people do it and sell the worms at a profit without coming to anyone's attention. Of course dragging a metal bar across a stump makes a weird noise that carries through the woods, so you might not want to do this near other people's houses, unless they are your friends.

Besides being used for fish-bait, worms can be added directly to a vegetable garden to improve the soil or to a compost bin to make it work faster, and there is no expense for this (red wigglers can cost $30 for 500 of them). Any sort of earthworm is good for the garden but red wigglers are especially good in the compost bin because they will eat shredded paper, as well as kitchen scraps, dead leaves and grass clippings.

Scientific Theory Professor Kenneth Catania of Vanderbilt University has published a study of worm behavior and he came up with the theory that worm grunting works because worms think the vibrations are caused by their traditional enemy the mole, which makes vibrations when he is digging for them. Worms move to the surface to avoid his tender affections. This paper has been published on an open-access peer-reviewed online publication called PloS One. It appeared in the October 14, 2008 edition and can be read at http://www.plosone.org.