Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Apr 23, 2010 11:45 am This may be a silly question but here goes... Watching Costa last night he was making a worm farm inside a vege bed by drilling holes in PVC pipe (for drainage / worm access) and then "planting" this pipe vertically into the bed (about 600mm), leaving about 100mm above ground. The pipe was open ended at the bottom, with a screw on lid on the top (sewer pipe). He then chucked some bedding material into the pipe and them a heap of worms and castings in and then you chuck your vege scraps on top and voila! - worm farm in your vege bed. The main reason I believe was to create a means of disposale for vege scraps. My wife asked the question - couldn't the worms eat your seedlings / plant roots ? I am pretty keen on this idea as another means of vege scrap disposal between compost batches. (While waiting for full compost bin to finish), plus the obvious side benefits. Also, I think that the worms in worm farms are different from the ones which we have in our soils, but could this encourage the naturally occurring ones ? Re: Can earthworms eat vege seedlings / plants ? 2Apr 23, 2010 1:53 pm Worm authority Peter Rutherford says they can sometimes eat plant roots but I can assure you I have never in all my years in Horticulture and gardening ever seen or experienced a problem. In nurseries we always would rescue earth worms and put them in the pots. No plant ever suffered adversely for it anywhere. I guess the roots would be growing faster than the worms could eat them? Who knows but it should be pretty cool. Also the worms he introduced were composting worms (possibly tiger worms) These guys are very different to earth worms. The composting worms will love the mulches and food scraps. Fantastic idea I have to say Re: Can earthworms eat vege seedlings / plants ? 3May 03, 2010 4:51 pm Have a read of this relating to worms http://www.soilfoodweb.com.au/index.php ... Itemid=143 Murraya could be a great option for you. It creates a great tall screening hedge but doesn't drop fruit like lily pilly. The flowers smell divine. 2 10241 I work with owner, he/she is my man on the ground and I instruct them when to visit the site and take photos and I have other tools in the bag. 4 15265 |