natural way to aerate your trees soil

cerviarborist said:
And you may well inadvertently introduce an exotic invasive species in the process. First find out if earthworms are even a natives species in your area before you introduce them to the food web.
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An important point to make and I apologize for not incorporating that into my original post. Here at the Arboretum that I work at we have plenty of worms present in certain areas but not in the higher traffic spots. I've been talking with people in the entomology department at OSU to see what species are native if there even are any. Columbus is in a interesting region in terms of glaciation.
 
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Just wanted to add to what Frax said above, please watch what worms you do introduce if you decide to go this way. I'd think twice before adding anything like dew worms - introduce these around any lawns and they'll turn it into a lumpy mess in short order. Some yards I've seen have 'em as big as small garter snakes (yeah, yeah) - even birds won't go after 'em. Homeowners have tried spraying soapy water on the lawn and watering to get rid of 'em but they just keep coming back or they go into neighbours yards. These things are a curse.
 
I always get a chuckle out of towns and cities that ban chickens. There's nothing else on the planet, that I know of, that will build a nice lawn, or control pests, like chickens. No chemicals needed. They aerate and fertilize the soil and are absolutely devestating to the grub population. Big ass, Asian worms? Chickens will run from big snakes... but garter snakes? They kill them and eat them. If you watch them doing it, it gives you the creeps. There will be no doubt in your mind that their dinosaur ancestors must have been truly awesome killers.
 
Urban Ecology llc said:
An important point to make and I apologize for not incorporating that into my original post. Here at the Arboretum that I work at we have plenty of worms present in certain areas but not in the higher traffic spots. I've been talking with people in the entomology department at OSU to see what species are native if there even are any. Columbus is in a interesting region in terms of glaciation.
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I'm from Columbus, welcome to the Buzz
 
Tom Dunlap said:
... on the western edges of Minneapolis.... The woods floor ends up as bare soil. Sheet erosion is very evident. In some cases the areas have lost 6-8” to erosion.... These woods have no forbes or small growth. Almost a sterile environment...
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Yes, I understand what you are seeing, the evidence that it is completely due to worms is just not there.


Try to reconcile the statistics in the above article with what you are seeing. It takes worms decades to increase nutrients, water holding capacity and soil stability through aggregation. Worms by themselves do not create the ecosystem you are seeing anywhere else. Look at your residential areas. Are you not raking up bushel upon bushel of leaves every fall? Do you think they would disappear if you left them? These soils have worms also, yet things are not degrading, why?
 
When I lived in Missouri I had yard chickens and they really went after black bull snakes. Even some 6-footers. Fun to watch them trying to keep those long snakes away from the other chickens. Plenty of night crawlers in that yard. Great food for the chickens. Any time we'd be working in the garden or yard the chickens would watch, waiting for their turn at the worms we'd turn up.

Now in Wisconsin my Jack Russell likes to eat the garter snakes. His "reptile breath" lets us know when he doesn't need as much supper.
 
DSMc said:
Yes, I understand what you are seeing, the evidence that it is completely due to worms is just not there.


Try to reconcile the statistics in the above article with what you are seeing. It takes worms decades to increase nutrients, water holding capacity and soil stability through aggregation. Worms by themselves do not create the ecosystem you are seeing anywhere else. Look at your residential areas. Are you not raking up bushel upon bushel of leaves every fall? Do you think they would disappear if you left them? These soils have worms also, yet things are not degrading, why?
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soil contact vs. leaves sitting on the grass. that is a big difference for a worm

that article is a GREAT example of how our understanding/preconceptions about worms are driven by agriculture. Everything in there sounds great...if your goal is to remove massive amounts of plant material every year and have the rest incorporated into the soil within a year.
 
"A square yard of cropland in the United States can contain from 50-300 earthworms, or even larger populations in highly organic soils. A similar area of grassland or temperate woodlands will have from 100-500 earthworms."

You will notice in this quote taken from that article, that both grassland and wooodlands will typically have more worms per square yard than agriculture land. All the benefits that worms incorporate, are normally typical and independent of land use. Why the drastic difference in your forests?
 
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