April 8, 2008

Mating Red Worms

Red Worms Caught in the Act

I took a quick look in my ‘4 Worm Experiment‘ bin this morning and found two of the adults engaged in some hanky panky! Of course, as per usual I ran for the camera to see if I can get some decent images.

As you can see, when worms mate they line up facing in opposite directions and press their anterior region together. They secrete a large amount of mucus and produce what are known as a ‘slime tubes’ (each worm will have one) – this is actually what eventually slides off the worm and becomes the ‘shell’ of the cocoon. The clitellum (the thickened band on the anterior region of the worm) produces a compound that causes the slime tube to harden.

The actual copulation process involves the exchange of sperm between worms. Remember, earthworms are ‘hermaphroditic’ – meaning they have both female and male reproductive organs. Nevertheless most species still reproduce via cross-fertilization.

Once mating is complete, worms will continue to produce cocoons as long as their sperm supply (donated by another worm) lasts.

You can actually see a couple of cocoons in the material near the worms (although these were likely produced at a different time).

Hopefully in the next couple months this bin will really start to gain momentum – I am eager to add the next tray, but definitely need a reasonable population of Red Worms in the first tray before the materials will start getting converted to vermicompost at a decent rate. I have a sneaking suspicion that this bin will produce much better vermicompost than the material produced in my sealed Rubbermaid bins due to the greatly increased aeration, but we shall see!

Anyway, I will be sure to keep you posted!

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Red Worms Love Avocado?


Ball of Red Worms inside an avocado skin


Continuing with the ‘Red Worms Love…’ theme today, I thought it would be fun to post this picture I took fairly recently and just came across this morning in one of my worm picture folders. This was in the ‘older’ bin mentioned in the last post. When I opened up the lid I was quite surprised to see this writing mass of worms balled up in an avocado skin – I’m pretty sure there were actually quite a few more worms when I first opened the bin, but some left the scene when I went to get the camera (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!).

I wouldn’t have expected avocado to be a great worm food. It has a high oil content and would likely go anaerobic very easily. We eat avocado quite regularly (it IS a ‘miracle food’ after all – haha) and I always add the left-overs to my kitchen scraps collection, but I’m definitely going to start paying more attention to how the worms react to it.

I’d be interested to know if anyone else has tried adding it to your bins?

By the way, if you are looking for another food that worms seem to LOVE – try cantaloupe!



Close-up of the avocado worm ball – you can see some mites feasting on some avocado up to the left


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Red Worms Love Wet Conditions

During my recent worm transfer I was reminded of the fact that red worms really do like it wet. The older bin I was harvesting the worms from is the same one used for the squash composting experiment and was absolutely loaded with worms. There were so many in there that they were starting to congregate in writhing masses at or near the surface. Any time I added food it was disappearing very quickly.

I just assumed that all the worms in the bin were just up near the surface. Well as I discovered, there were actually loads of worms all throughout the bin. Especially interesting was the fact that I found lots of worms (and cocoons) right down at the very bottom of the bin, where conditions were extremely wet, and borderline anaerobic. This was one of my simple Rubbermaid bins with no drainage – in fact all it has is a few air holes in the lid.

Obviously I’m not sharing this information to convince you that you don’t need to be careful with moisture levels in a bin – you still do. It was soaking wet down in the bottom of my bin, but it wasn’t flooded. Also, as much as the worms do love wet conditions, it is more difficult to produce quality compost. Decomposition slows down and you don’t get that nice rich, dark humus that is produced via aerobic composting. Having drainage holes (and some sort of catch tray or reservoir) is not a bad idea.

Anyway, just thought I’d share that tidbit with you.
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[tags]red worms, red wigglers, eisenia fetida, worm bin, worm bins, worm composter, worm composting, vermicomposting[/tags]

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