Re: Earthworms?????

Posted by Hugh MacKay on March 03, 2006 at 02:13:47 from (216.208.58.102):

In Reply to: Earthworms????? posted by EARL -IL on March 01, 2006 at 21:40:23:

Earl: You certainly have gotten quite few ideas. I'm not going to enter the discussion about earth worms being native or non-native.

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.

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