Ginger,

Many years ago, Eurasian species of earthworm were introduced to American soils. Since then, they have been like other invasive species -- outcompeting the native earthworms, especially in cultivated areas. There are still woodlands that have not been taken over by foreign earthworms, but they are losing ground ... so to speak.

The "cocoons" you're hearing about are not really cocoons, but dormancy "cysts" that earthworms surround themselves with when the soil becomes too dry. It is a survival mechanism that allows the worms to get through drought. They secrete mucus that hardens to form the cyst. When rains moisten the soil, the mucus softens and the worms re-emerge.

I don't know what your bait shop sells, but usually they're the worms known as "red wigglers" (remember the episode of WKRP in Cincinnatti in which newsman Les Nesman plays a commercial jingle -- Red Wigglers! The Cadillac of Worms! heh heh

My compost heap breaks down in an amazing 3-4 months because of earthworm activity. Such a heap would usually take a year to break down, but I have rich humus in just a few months, even when the pile has lots of hay straw, poultry manure, leaves and kitchen scraps. Worms speed up the process exponentially.

IMO, your best bet for breaking up compacted soil is what you said: pickaxe and compost. Lots of compost. Add moisture and earthworms to that, and it's the best you can do.

So they are not really eggs, Cady, but mature worms in a cyst-like state? Guess I should look this up myself. Do earthworms have eggs that "hatch?" Gardens Alive! is sometimes suspect, in my book, so wondered if anyone had experience with this offer. At 50 cocoons for $13 bucks, it would be quite a saving if each "cocoon " had 10 or 20 "eggs". I'll do the research and see what I can figure out. Have to go grocery shoping right now, tho!

Ginger

Oops! I forgot to say... Worms do lay their eggs in a mucus cyst, too! Sorry about that. Yes, you could very well be buying egg "cocoons" that will produce baby worms. Just make sure that's what you have, and not estivating (dormant) adult worms.

Some of the controversy over the earth worm is in the upper northern forests of our U.S. While releaving compaction in the urban enviroment it seems the earthworm escapees can actually create a soil more compact than the native forest floor that exists [dare I say it?] naturally.
link below

Here is a link that might be useful: Minnesota Worm Watch ~ ~ ~ ~

Hello:

If it happens in Cincinnati, it's news to Les.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. When I'm restoring my soil, I'm afraid I rely on compost, manure, compost, and more compost, and time. Unless it's really unsightly (like dead stalks or oversized fan palm leaves), I leave the fallen leaves lie.

I find that after a year, the soil has an army of critters doing that voodoo that they doo doo so well. To get things started in a fresh bed, I till and garden claw the material into the soil.

No muss, no strain, no drain on the brain.

spectre

P.S.: With reference to the "weed" thread, after proofreading my post, I wonder if you might think there's another kind of weed I'm growing.

If you build it (i.e. pile o' compost), they will come.

Yep, compost is key, as spectre sez. Ginger, you probably have earthworms in the soil already. If you just break up the compacted soil and add loads of compost, the worms will be attracted to it, and you won't have to buy any.

Perry, I've heard about compacted forest soil after the influx of worms. I always figgered it was because in an unwormy forest, the leaf litter and duff stays fluffy -- the beetle larva and microorganisms that munch it aren't as fast working as worms -- and thus the soil doesn't get packed down. Worms can mow their way through leaf litter quickly, and their casts break down quickly, so you lose that springy layer.

I think that a domestic yard can avoid that problem by adding compost faster than the worms can eat it, and also by avoiding overworking the soil.

One note of caution about compost--we have a compost bin. I think rubbermaid made it--ANYHOO--went to dump some potato peelings in early last fall--and what should look up at me FROM INSIDE THE BIN but the biggest copperhead I've ever seen! I'm not certain who was more surprised--luckily his/her mouth was full of chipmunk. I slowly lowered the lid to the bin, and left. After that I banged on the bin before I opened it. I think the chipmunks had tunneled in and were raiding the fresh layer of compost...and the snake followed one of them in. That's what I get for not turning my pile often enough!

melanie

In "normally" compacted soil - caused by maybe walking on it or working with it a bit while wet, I would agree--compost's the thing. But on earth that has been compacted by heavy equipment - and while wet - different story. This is the sort of compaction that requires a pickaxe to even make a 2" deep dent!

I often come upon this sort of situation in my work when restoring gardens; need to have methods that work more quickly than 3 years of compost application.

I've used a pickaxe, followed by rear-tine rototiller, followed by 4"layer of compost mixed with cow manure, more tilling and addition of greensand (expensive), then earthworms, a layer of shredded leaves, and let it rest(and me, too!). Seemed to work pretty well, is labor intensive and expensive, tho'. This is the exact technique I used on my own property this late summer after having an addition put on my home and redoing the front gardens. Never have added compost tea or mycorrhizal fungi. Maybe that's the step to add in this coming season.

Other ideas??

G.

Maybe the next step is dynamite or nitro!

For normal, non clay, compacted soil in gardens I use a combination of organic material spread on the soil surface plus spray with an organic surfactant three times a year. Compacted lawns receive aeration in the spring plus two sprayings of an organic surfactant. Works for me. The idea will probably raise someone's dander. Sorry, I have done this for years with great success.

What do you use as an organic surfactant, Nandina?

Ginger

Maybe a mild, organic detergent... It would break down quickly after loosening the bonds of the clay molecules.

Ginger:

In my example above, I was referring to compacted soil left by construction equipment. It's even worse in an area like San Diego where there are hills and canyons and the developers scrape and fill the slopes. They remove any decent topsoil and the fill dirt they use has the fertility of plastic.

This is where time comes in . . . if I have to plant something, I use whatever soil happens to be there at the time. In other words, I don't mix amendments into planting holes, preferring to have the the plant acclimate to the soil it has. Digging trenches and planting holes is the only time I use picks and "heavy duty" tools.

spectre

When Iron Belly was preparing his new garden he used a subsoiler which is a tractor attachment like a huge pick axe that you drag through the compacted soil.

H-mmmm. "subsoiler" Might be the ticket.

Tony-
Interested in working on FAQs yet?
Ginger

If you have the luxury of time, you could always sow a green cover crop of deeply rooting legumes and grasses, and then till them into the soil. This allows the roots to do a lot of the intial work for you, and immediately increases the organic content of the soil as well as fixing nitrogen, also usually missing in construction conditions. Top dressing with compost or manures each year there after will also allow natural processes such as worms and soil micro organisms to do the work for you. Deep tilling should only be necessary in worst cases, such as with caliche soils that create an impervious drainage layer. I wouldn't bother tilling that deep uniformly, but only where necessary for deeper rooted trees. It will also make far more sense to start with smaller sized plants that can adjust better to the conditions, than planting out larger less hardened plants. A one gallon sized root ball will adjust far better than a 15 gallon tree under such conditions.

In general, I would recommend less manually intensive methods if at all possible. I usually try to schedule major soil tilling here in northern California until the winter rains have softened things up. Much easier than tackling the same project in the height of summer when clay soils are baked solid. If you add plenty of compost as top dressing, the earthworms will come and multiply on their won.

The foreign earthworms you alluded to might be the New Zealand exotic that is wreaking havoc in Britain, as it devours the native earthworm species. I don't think it is a problem here in the USA.

"It will also make far more sense to start with smaller sized plants that can adjust better to the conditions, than planting out larger less hardened plants. A one gallon sized root ball will adjust far better than a 15 gallon tree under such conditions."

Good additional point, Bahia. Like people, plants do better at making big adjustments when they are younger (for the most part!)

Well, as Perry and Cady have pointed out in above posts, we do indeed have a worm problem here in the Northeast-do a google search and you'll find lots of material. The worms in question are European "invaders" that are wreaking havoc with the soil in forests and making things inhospitable for woodland species. They came over with the colonists! A fern has already been nearly wiped out because of worm activity. The quote below is from this link:

http://www.wvnps.org/earthworms.html

"Invasive worms enter the forest primarily through horticulture, agriculture, and recreation. If you fish DO NOT dump your extra worms out on the ground. Throw them entirely in the water or take them home. If you plant trees and shrubs on your property examine the root balls for worms and destroy any you find. If you plant non-native trees and shrubs, which you shouldn't, DO NOT plant them near woodlots or forest edges."

Have to look into this more closely. I remember reading some years ago that it was only one type that was troublesome and that it created too many castings, making the soil too porous. There were some instructions given as to how to identify it as well. Back to Google.
(Perry's Minnesota site would not come up for me)

G.

I think I'll just skip adding additional worms and let them come naturally to the leaf mold and compost--especially since there seem to be enough out in the woods already! I did have a lot of earthworms before the heavy equipment compaction; afterwards, none were to be seen. Have to lure them back with more compost, I guess. Between the compaction, pickaxing, and rototilling, it will be interesting to see what comes of my garden in its first spring coming up. A case history in degrading and then trying to restore soil . . . stay tuned!

G.

I'm not convinced that earthworms are really effective when you are talking about truly eliminating serious compaction. I know it sounds warm and fuzzy but all the anecdotal stories aside, I don't think the facts really support it. Although agriculturally related, my sources tell me that the only effective way to eliminate serious compaction from heavy equipment and things like hard pan is by mechanical means.

Yes, I want earthworms to be abundant in my soil. However, I only depend on them for the finish and maintenance work. I just see too much evidence to the contrary to believe that worms can adequately relieve the compaction found on most residential sites all by their lonesome. Below are some photos of how I did it. After subsoiling (about 16 inches deep) I added truckloads of compost. I tilled this all in and now am letting the worms do their thing to help establish a soil structure.

If worms were truly able to eliminate extreme compaction, would someone please explain why over 100 years after the fact we can still see undisturbed remnants of things like the Mormon and Oregon Trails? I can -- it is called compaction.

{{gwi:1185839}}

{{gwi:1185840}}

IronBelly

Thanks for the photos, Ironbelly. This would be a good machine to rent when doing lawns and gardens for new construction.

In effect, we did the same thing in my yard with pick axes first, then went over it twice with a huge rear tine rototiller. (Your machine would have saved alot of time.) Then spread amendments(compost, manure, greensand) and tilled in, followed by dumping containers of bait worms,then letting it all sit a few weeks. I then planted trees, shrubs,perennials, and bulbs in Sept and into Oct; had pretty good soil texture and easy digging to a depth of about 14". Had to chop up the deeper soil to a depth of 24" for the trees and shrubs in a 3' diameter circle. Not the best situation, but that was all we could do.

I wonder how deeply earthworms go and if they will ever work on my soil to depths of 14'-24"? Your comment on the remnants of the trails and compaction is interesting.

Now, before I redesigned my yard this summer and had the addition built, I had a very lush,pretty, high maintenance cottage garden planted in soil -- actually amended builder's fill -- compacted when the house was built (but not as badly compacted as this time). I was very unscientific about my plantings back then, never knew a thing about cations or mycorrhizal fungi,and managed to have a beautiful garden using only peat moss and oxen manure from the farm in the next town over. H-mmmmm.

Ginger

Ginger,

One certainly can achieve much soil success in the absence of a scientific approach. Common sense goes a long way. However, I approach compaction a little more vigorously than most. I truly feel that it is the single biggest impediment to garden success in urban locations. While everyone complains about clay, the real problem isn't so much the clay itself as it is compaction of that clay. Clay soils with good structure are quite productive and have the statistical evidence to back this up.

Everybody "knows" that good soils require lots of nutrients. However, as gardeners and landscape people, for the most part we just play with soil. We latch on to a tidbit of truthful information and apply it to every situation. Sales of Miracle-Gro fertilizer are living proof of this. How many gardeners are aware that you can increase corn field yields simply by pulling an empty anhydrous ammonia applicator through a field of standing corn? The boost doesn't come from nutrients -- none were applied. The boost comes from aeration of the soil -- translated as reducing compaction.

Although I don't claim to be a soil expert, I have taken agronomy courses and have literally been in the trenches -- the twelve foot deep trenches used to observe the actual root growth and development of living plants. The effects of soil compaction are very obvious in these trenches. Quite frankly, soil structure plays a larger detrimental role than lack of nutrients.

Worms by and large only play were the food is -- and that is within only a few inches of the surface. I want my soils to allow water to percolate all the way down to the water table. While worms obviously provide benefit to the typical urban landscape, lets not create myths attributing super-hero feats to them that just are not true. They are an amazing critter but worms are not the solution to every problem. I know it is hard for some to believe but worms will not solve all your soil problems. This logic is as flawed as the people who dump Miracle-Gro on everything whenever there is a perceived problem. It still remains that earthworms are more of an indicator of good soil than they are a creator of good soil.

IronBelly

"It still remains that earthworms are more of an indicator of good soil than they are a creator of good soil."

Very, very true.

Yup. I was so pleased when we moved into this house, and I dug down a bit in the "garden" (which was chest high in nasty stiltgrass adn wicked vicious weeds) and found BOODLES of little earthworm guys. At least I had good soil! I called my mother and proudly declared:" Mom! I've got worms!" I was a LEETLE puzzled when she suggested a trip to my Family Practice doc...

melanie

Melanie:

I would have thought a trip to a gastro-intestinal specialist would have been more appropriate for your worm problem . . . .

spectre

Sometimes when the soil is compacted and depleted due to the passage of time--say 50-60 years--a radical solution is called for. For one restoration project I had the soil totally replaced down to about 30 inches, with a mixture of materials recommended by the folks at Mount Vernon when they did something similar.

I agree, Fran. Extreme situations often call for extreme remedies.

Ironbelly-
Do you have any experience in using prairie plnts with very deep root systems to break up compacted soil? I have planted compass or cup plant (one of the silphiums) and found that its roots go down into the soil about 3 or 4 feet after only 2 years. Are these deep-rooted prairie plants purposively used to break up compacted soils?

Ginger

The answer to your question is really yes and no. Yes, I grow prairie plants known to be deeply rooted and no, they are not capable of breaking up compacted soil. For one thing, roots require oxygen to develope and grow; something compacted soils just don't have.

Once again, we have to be careful that we don't take a fragment of information and apply it too broadly. It is well documented that many prairie plants can (the word is "can", not "will") develope deep root systems. Other plants do this as well; alfalfa being one receiving much study documenting root systems 15 to 30 feet deep! However, these same plants when grown in compacted soils just don't ever develope roots anywhere near those depths. In fact, the statisical evidence proves that root penetration stops at the layer of compaction -- whatever that level is.

I have included a link to some documented studies of alfalfa root developement which is really quite representative of some prairie plants - they just haven't been documented as much. Alfalfa is well known for its deep roots -- provided the soil will allow this to take place.

IronBelly

Here is a link that might be useful: Root development of alfalfa.

Some one mentioned dynamite, which reminds me of a story one of my hort profs told about what they did to relieve soil compaction in the orchard at Winterthur when he was working there. I don't know if it's true. He said that they actually drilled down and planted lots of little stick of dynamite throughout the orchard and set them all off at once. Apparently the trees did much better after that, perhaps out of fear.

There are no native earthworms in the northern part of the United States and there haven't been since the Ice Age.

annp! PLEASE make yor font size larger! OUCH!

melanie

I was just being quiet (and contrary).

I consider them native if they have been here since the Ice Age . . . through how may Ages do you have to live in one spot to be considered "native," annp??

Ginger

Good point, although it isn't my theory. I'm quoting worm experts who frequently point out that no worms north of a certain point in the U.S. are native species.

Annp may have been "quiet (and contrary)" about there being no native earthworms in the Northeast since the Pleistocene, but she's right! Some native species have slowly made their way north over the past several thousand years, but they in no way can compete with the Eurasian species brought over both intentionally and inadvertantly.

Go back to some of the links earlier in this thread to read about non-native earthworm invasion of northern forests. It's sobering about what they do to change the soil structure, leaf litter and other essential parts of an indigenous northern forest ecosystem.