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What happens to a Worm when it breaks in half? Does it die or does it magically grow another head? |
Your Garden's Best Friend
Gardeners,
farmers, foresters and soil scientists love the earthworm because of the
good they do for flowers, crops, and plants and other animals of the forest.
Although they are the most numerous in the top 6 inches, they also work
in the subsoil, bringing mineral rich soil from below to the surface. This
adds to the supply of nutrients available to the plants.
Earthworms are active animals and feed by eating their way through the soil and bringing organic debris into their burrows from the surface. Research shows that in every 100 square feet of garden soil, earthworms may bring from 4–8 pounds of dirt to the soil surface each year. As earthworms tunnel through the soil, the soil is ingested and any organic matter is digested. Digested leaf litter (dead leaves and animals) contains nutrients made by plants during photosynthesis and includes calcium, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, and other organic minerals and nutrients.
Besides incorporating organic matter into your soil, earthworms are good manufacturers of fertilizer. Worm excrement, called castings, is deposited on the surface and is also rich in nutrients. Other animals and microorganisms utilize these castings as food. Castings have a nutrient level and organic matter level much higher than that of the surrounding soil. The micro-organisms in the soil then break down this organic material. Each day they produce nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and many micronutrients in a form that all plants can absorb. In this way, earthworms have helped produce the fertile humus that covers the land.
A well managed, rich in humus soil can easily support 25 worms per cubic
foot. This translates into at least 175 pounds of fertilizer per year
for the same 200 square foot garden. For example, a 200 square foot garden
with a low worm population of only 5 worms per cubic foot will be provided
with over 35 pounds (about 1/3 pounds per worm) of top grade fertilizer
by the worms, each garden year. 
Not
only do they produce this fertilizer but spread it thoroughly within the
top 12 inches of soil, and incorporate it as far down as 6 feet. This
means that your garden or lawn can be supplied with far more superior
quality fertilizer than 10–20 pounds of dry or granular fast acting chemical
fertilizer. In fact, as the chemical fertilizer becomes soluble, it leaches
into the soil and forces the earthworms to seek refuge elsewhere, thereby
repelling those earthworms that are already present.
Other contributions that earthworms make to your garden.
- Adding calcium carbonate, a compound, which helps moderate soil pH. Over time earthworms help change acid or alkaline soils toward a more neutral pH.
- Their burrowing aerates the soil and loosen the soil, this is why earthworms are called “nature's plow”. They not only help bringing oxygen down into the soil, but their tunnel's allow rainwater carrying organic and inorganic nutrients down deep into the soil where the roots lie. The roots then take the water and the minerals and recycle them back to the herbaceous plants and woody trees.
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- Finally, the tunneling of the earthworms provides an access to deeper soil levels for the numerous smaller organisms that contribute to the health of the soil. The tunnels earthworms make beneath the topsoil do a tremendous service to the trees and plants above.
When earthworms die, usually in the dry summer, the organic material
of their bodies is gradually released providing additional nutrients for
plants. These minerals are essential to healthy plant growth. 
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The early European settlers brought earthworms to North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. If earthworms existed in North America prior to this, they were probably wiped out during the last ice age, 10,000 to 50,000 years ago. Some scientists estimate that there are approximately 50,000 earthworms per acre of moist soil. Living in deep, dark, long, and narrow tunnels or burrows under the ground, earthworms cannot tolerate heat or sun, so during the summer they come to the surface only at night.
After a rain have you noticed multitudes
of earthworms on the surface? This happens because the wet surface
allows the worm to move without drying out
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