It couldn't hurt to put in some african nightcrawlers or red wigglers in the pile. They both will thrive on the leaf litter and other organics. It would not take many as they will multiplly fast when the temp is right.

Do the worms that you find in the leaf piles wiggle very fast when you disturb them or are they the big old fat nightcrawlers? The ones that wiggle vilently when disturbed are probably african nightcrawlers. I notice from your "my page" that you are in the United States. That doesn't help much with your location. What state are you from? The more manure in the pile the better for worm production. There seems to be something there that stimulates reproduction.

Thanks wfike. The worms at my house in houston do wiggle quite fast when disturbed. If they are african nightcrawlers, were they imported at some time? I have a lot of those here and I may just round a handfull up and take them to the piles. By the way, what is the right temp?

The other place is in Kosse TX area, hence my user name. I grew up in the north and I've never seen the big fat nightcrawlers here like we had there, so I know they are not those.

the red wrigglers and african nightcrawlers were imported at some time and they have naturalized in much of the warmer part of the country.

Laying organic matter on the surface of your soil should attract worms unless there is something about your soil that repels them. What is the pH of your soil? If you don't know this, it might be worth getting a soil test done by your state's cooporative extension service. Worms like things pretty close to neutral (like between 6.5 and 7) If you soil has a really low (acid) pH then that could explain a lack of worms. Another thing that will keep worms away is lack of moisture.

Some parts of my soil are below 6 but when I added a bunch of compost and mulch on top and kept things moist, the worms appeared.

I am North of you, kossetx,by about 270 miles. My soil is sugar sand and very dry most of the time. However, I have recently accumulated (or noticed) red wigglers, some deeper dwelling worms that are grey and sluggish, and a bunch of what appears to be african night crawlers from some fishing worms I released last winter into a compost pile. I have oak trees, pecan trees, china berry trees, bay trees, and the leaves from all my neighbors who labor to look like clones every month (lawn-wise). I leave my leaves on the ground and they get on the cement sidewalk where the worms have always made the sand turn black. They seem to be mostly surface dwellers in this area and maybe the same in your area...they eat anything available to them. I notice that they especially love my pea-gravel driveway too, under bricks and boards that may be laid down for a week or so. If you don't want to buy worms to try out their talents...get those off the street where the leaves collect and put them in a test pile to see what happens. They do like the damp and don't really seem to be too concerned about a little too much water if they can escape to a dry area every once in a while. Or, just to test...go down to walmart or a bait shop and buy a couple of dozen night crawlers there...that is about all they will sell you anymore...and they are good for fishing, too, if you decide you can't just throw them down on the ground...LOL! That was a hard one for me. They DO improve the soil no matter what kind of soil it is...have fun! Enjoy! =o)

Thanks again for the replies!

I guess feed them and they will come?? I don't know the ph of my soil but I know the whole area is known to be acid. I think I'll just gather up some local worms and put them in my compost piles and see what happens. I always have a big pile forming so they'll have a constant source of food.

Mark

One more question. Should I put the worms in now at the cooler time of the year? Tha temp for the last weeks has been 37-68.

Any other suggestions why there are no worms?

kossetx, I have some worms in half-barrels outside. I just pluck up any worms I find and put them in with leaves, a little dirt, shredded paper, a vaccum bag, and a few table scraps. I covered it with an old leaky tarp. It has gotten down to 35° at night. I may have put 25 worms in it to begin about 3 months ago. Today, it is 70°. I checked the worms about an hour ago and those suckers are Fat and Sassy! I think you can put worms in anytime as long as you provide them with food and a place to get away from too much heat (or heat to go to when it is cold) that may be generated by the composting effects of the food-paper-leaves mix. I think just starting the project will see you surprised by next year. Merry Christmas! =o)

I envy all of you in warmer climates that can get red worms just by laying down a tarp covering a compost heap! LOL

My only thought on this, maybe the only reason you haven't seen worms in your compost piles as of yet is there is no way for the worms to get to the piles. As I understand it Red worms are surface dwellers. If they have to cross two lanes of traffic and gravel to get to the compost maybe they just haven't made it there yet. Introduce the worms from the leaves you have found them in to the compost piles you have. Hope that helps. :-)
SRD

Wait for a rain. Go out with your rain coat and a bucket at about daylight. You will find hundreds of worms that have crawled out onto the pavement in your neighborhood if I do not miss my guess. Rescue them or they will undoubtedly perish as soon as the pavement dries. Take them to your pile and they will thrive. You will also make sure you are stocking the pile with a variety of worm that has been naturally selected to do well in your climate. Make sure you are not using lots of chemicals in the vegetation that is going into the compost heap. They will work on the vegetation better if it is shredded or run over with your bush hog. Good luck on your rescue/relocating effort. Let us know how it does.

Srd, I don't think location is the problem. Pretty darn rural and the roads are dirt. The closest neibor is maybe 800 yards away.

Plantinfool, I've been waiting for rain and warmer weather. I do want worms I find rather than worms I buy. I'm going to raise them to increase the #'s then let em go. Not ,any chemicals used here either. Maybe fert once and a while. I will post what happens.

Thanks

By the way, I did see a worn there the other day. That makes, uh let's see, 1 :)

While weeding one day, I started finding worms. The worms here liked it around a particular kind of dandelion in the yard. When I was digging my onion bed in an old wood pile, I found about a hundred and moved em to my worm hole and my compost pile in hopes they will take up residence there once the conditions are right in the compost. My garden friend had some alpaca poop that was sitting for over a year and there were tons of red worms there, so if you could get an older small pile horse, cow, alpacca etc that may be great. Some say the worm castings have some eggs in em too.