Earthworms?????

I don't think they are quite as important to crop growth as some of these guys would have you believe. I fact one of the curses of modern day agriculture is the organic matter in our soil is breaking down too fast, 90% of that being caused by high N applications and not enough grass or legume hay in our rotations.

I'm 63 and I don't buy the argument that tillage or chemicals harm earthworms very much. I have never been a big user of chemicals by todays standards, due mainly to the fact my farm was always about 60% sod hay. In all my years I've seen earth worms come and go, one year their they are plentiful, another year they are not. My dad tried to blame this on chemicals, then all of a sudden one year they were very plentiful. I don't buy the tillage argument either, you cut an earthworm in half and both ends survive.

I think the earthworm is more affected by climate and food supply than any other factors. I say climate as I think I saw fewer earthworms in years after we had winters with little snow cover. I am not prepared to say how much the weather affects them. I suspect they move from surface as frost demands, and maybe while down deep they find enough food supply they don't bother to visit until that food supply runs out.

I say food supply as I noticed over the years earthworms moved around even within the the farm boundries Having done soil sampling on a regular basis, the only pattern I've seen with earthworms, they move on as as organic matter levels drop in a particular field. My rotation was largely 3 years corn and other grain followed by 4 years of grass-legume mix hay. All cow manure was applied to corn and grain. Of course with that rotation the organic levels will be at the lowest levels near the end of corn and grain 3 years and 1st year hay.

No my friends, I don't think we need the earthworms near as bad as they need us to carry out good soil husbandry. They are an excellent indicator of the organic levels in your soil and that is about all they are.

Good crop rotation is more the crux of the problem most of you folks are discussing.

Now, think on this a while: Charles Darwin wrote about the beneficial effects of earthworms on the soil. Since the 1800's, which was when he lived, scientists have only confirmed his theories.

Specter

P.S. I've been learning about this stuff in science since elementary school. If they've been teaching it to me all the way up to high school, it can't be all wrong.

Specter
Grade 11 Science student

Well said.

Without earthworms, or some other organisms that fulfills the same role, we probably wouldn't have anything like what we all recognize as "Soil" - We'd just have the mineral material left over from the glaciers, probably without much growing on it.

Well said.

Quote..... .....
While most earthworms are credited for their beneficial effects on soil, recent research suggests that several invasive European earthworm species could be causing a decline in some North American plants. Exotic Worms Killing Off N. American Plants

I think if a Soil Biologist and a Biochemist say earthworms are good that is good enough for me.
Earthworm Benefits

I don't think I'll lose sleep over this "invasion" of earthworms. I don't think the world is going to end.

Specter

Now, do explain why the earthworms were killed off in the last ice age? If earthworms were that vulnerable to cold, how could they survive winters today? Up here in central Alberta, winter temperatures can dip to -40 degrees. I assure you, we do indeed have earthworms around here, and they do indeed survive the winter.

According to the World Book Encyclopedia, invertabrates, such as earthworms, have been around for 480 million years, whereas plants appeared on land 425 million years ago. You can draw the conclusion from this that earthworms didn't need plants to survive, but plants needed earthworms to thrive. Now, working from this conclusion, it would have been impossible for Europeans to have reintroduced earthworms to North America. If there were no earthworms, there wouldn't have been plants in North America, and therefore, no higher forms of animals. North America would have been barren. History most certainly shows that this wasn't the case.

I've done my research on this.

Specter

As you can see, most of Europe was also covered. So, if North American earthworms were killed off by the ice age, why weren't the European ones also killed off? Doesn't make any sense to me. Also, if earthworms couldn't spread back over North America, how could they spread throughout Europe again? Again, doesn't make sense.

According to the theory that says Europeans brought earthworms to North America, earthworms were carried on animal hooves, peoples' feet, and wagon wheels. Now, if that is the case, why couldn't you apply that same theory to post-ice age North America? As the ice sheet receded, and the animals and Native people moved into the freshly released areas, why couldn't they carry earthworms with them? 11,000 years of spreading over the continent would be much more likely than 400 years, which is how long Europeans have been in North America.

Specter

Nightcrawlers are not native to N. America. Lots of earthworm species are.

Them worms is a Commie plot, snuk over in the 1950's..yep, Red Worms! Them earthworms are really space aliens, sent here from strange planet to eat up all our dirt..I read it in Outer Space magazine!

I know one reason I ain't bothered with them varmits....called a Howard Wormavator. I dump manure to bait'em in and then when they ain't lookin', I Wormavator'em...gets'em everytime.