Worms in Action!

This is a long term project to make and observe worms in action in your own wormery.

Worms are extremely helpful to plants, farmers, and the ecosystem in general.

You will need

Clear plastic 2 litre drinks bottle (remove the label as best you can)

Scissors

Sand, soft soil, garden soil, compost (as many different types of soil as you can find)

Water

Worms (about 5)

Leaves

Piece of sugar paper or cardboard

Instructions

To obtain worms, there are several places you can go. Probably the easiest way to get them is to purchase them from a local bait shop or pet shop.

More fun if you have a bare patch of earth, is to find worms by watering the area and then placing a piece of cardboard, carpet, or wood over it. Wait a day and then lift the cardboard off the dirt to find the worms hidden underneath. Another way to obtain worms is to dig for them. While planting a garden or a tree, collect the worms you find as you go.

After you have collected your worms, build your wormery. Clean the drinks bottle if you haven’t already. Using the scissors, cut off the top of the bottle where it starts to taper to form the neck of the bottle.

Fill the bottle with alternating layers of soil and sand. Use at least two different types of soil, but the more you have the better.

Add water to the soil to get it damp, but not wet.

Place the leaves on top of the soil and then place the worms on the leaves. Cover the top of your wormery with sugar paper or cardboard to make it dark for your worms.

Watch what happens next

Over the next few days and weeks, watch your worms tunnel through the bottle and see how long it takes for the layers to mix so that they are no longer distinguishable. You may even see them tunnel along the side of the bottle. If needed, add more water to keep the soil damp.

When you are finished with your wormery, simply dump the entire contents (worms, too!) back in your garden.

What’s Happening?

The active tunnelling of worms not only aerates the soil, adding necessary oxygen, but also breaks down and spreads nutrients throughout the soil, making the ground fertile.

Worms move an amazing amount of soil for their small size. An earthworm can eat its own weight in soil every day! As you saw in this project, worms help till the soil as they tunnel through it. Any compost (decomposed plant material) you place on your garden, you can be sure some friendly earthworms will help get it down to the roots of your plants.

Have fun with your new wriggly friends!

Thanks to, and adapted from hometraining tools.com

 
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