How to increase earth-worm population on farm?

Question

Earth-worm a good friend, un-paid labour who works 24 hours a day without complaint, who plows the land, airaits the roots, supplies fertilizers and on and on... we must have them on our farm in big quantity. What is organic way to boost their population?

Answer 1

rotten vegatables apples etc

Answer 2

earthworms like alkaline soil. liming will help

Answer 3

Coffee Grounds....have everyone you know save them for you and just bury them in all the ground that you need to get earthworms

Answer 4

No-tillage systems in production agriculture doesn't disturb the ground unlike conventional systems.  Higher populations are natural in no-till.

Answer 5

The reason they have decreased:

The viability of soil organisms can be compromised when insecticides and herbicides are applied to planting regimes. Often there are unforeseen and unintended consequences of such chemical use in the form of death of impaired functioning of soil organisms. Thus any use of pesticides should only be undertaken after thorough understanding of residual toxicities upon soil organisms as well as terrestrial ecological components.  Killing soil microorganisms is a deleterious impact of slash and burn agricultural methods. With the surface temperatures generated, virtual annilation of soil and vegetative cover organisms are destroyed, and in many environments these effects can be virtually irreversible (at least for generations of mankind).

also read: http://www.affmech.com/info.php

I don't know how old this website is:  http://www.wormfarmingsecrets.info/

Answer 6

Burry the fallen leaves and organic waste which you get in the daily life,it helps in feeding the earthworm and increases its population.

Answer 7

Keep a compost pile and add as much organic matter to the soil as possible.  Fertilize with animal manure, earth worms thrive on it. Make sure your soil is well drained, water logged soils are death to earth worms.  Add lime if your soil is acid, earth worms don't do well in acid soils.  Avoid the use of pesticides as they tend to kill earth worms as well. The following is a good article to fill you in on earth worms.  Good luck.

http://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/eap6.h...

Answer 8

well, I would start a compost heap in a large bucket with a lid, and add a few worms, and put in all of the stuff that they like, AKA scraps, manure, and they'll multiply. Then, I would free them, and repeat the composting.  This way, less worms are eaten by birds.  Also, never put scraps of root veggies because worms won't eat it.

Answer 9

If you are fortunate enough to have a soil type amenable to no-till farming and if you are not opposed to judicious use of herbicides, then no-till farming is the best way to increase your earthworm population.  Tillage of the soil, especially discs and harrows are very hard on earthworm populations, and they contribute to soil compaction which is also tough on earthworms.  No-till allows the structure of the soil to redevelop and since you aren't physically killing the worms with your farm implements, they will thrive.  I've seen a fairly heavy clay loam soil develop the look of baby swiss cheese in just a couple of years of no-till farming.