Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Gathering Native Nightcrawlers

This is a flood generated pile of debris on a local creek bank.  It's in a shady spot and perfect this time of year for gathering native nightcrawlers just under the debris...


In about an hour I gathered approximately a thousand worms just by raking back the debris and picking them up by the handfull at times.  Here they are added to my home worm bin in the ground with sifted compost and a bit of sand ready for them to process further into castings...


If I didn't know better, some of these worms look more like Eisenia hortensis than the natives but the coloring is off.  They have the flattened tail like E hortensis but a blue-reddish coloring like the young natives but no yellowish striping in the tail.  I always heard that worm species would habitat together but not propagate a hybrid. Who knows?  Close to if not a million E hortensis were dispersed years ago in this particular area by a flood and I have found some that are definitely E hortensis without a doubt and natives likewise.  Maybe this is a new worm?

Any case, they are now residents of the dug-in yard worm bin.  Going back for more until I get tired of gathering! :)

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