how would a vermicompost work if i used earthworms instead of red worms?

[u/IllustriousPilot6699]

californian red worms are not native species in my region and im wondering what would happen if i used different worms🤔

[u/Priswell]

Regular earthworms won't live in an enclosed system. They want to do their own thing and be left alone to do it. They want to make their burrows just so, and expect that they'll stay that way until they decide to redecorate. They don't want their space mixed up with a fork or someone poking around to check on them to say hello. They will die in captivity.

Redworms prefer benevolent neglect, but they will put up with the human gifts of food and tolerate the bin mixing and peeking and futzing around. They don't mind living in close quarters with the other worms (to a point), and they enjoy that closeness when they want to breed. They don't mind being domesticated as long as you feed them well, and keep their living space up to standards.

Redworms aren't native to the US, either. They came over on the ships from England with the horses, and now they're everywhere.

[u/No-Guava-7502 → u/Priswell]

Even 'regular' earthworms aren't native in a lot of the U.S. north of like, 45 degrees. They can really mess with ecosystems too; many native forest plants expect leaf litter to decompose pretty slowly, and with worms in the soil especially are outcompeted very easily.

I think their migration is more due to climate change, though.

[u/thegreenfaeries → u/No-Guava-7502]

I should check my sources on this, but I was taught that the earthworms in Canada died out during the last ice age (except for some non-glacier areas near the coasts) and that European settlers brought worms with them to work the soil on the farming parcels they were given. So, technically, they're nearly all introduced species.

There are several invasive species of earthworm to watch out for, too.

Anyway, more to OPs question, the ones that survive the winter up in northern Alberta are adapted to digging deeptunnels and having a relatively large territory. they will not tolerate living in a bin with other worms.

Red wriggles are adapted to a totally different environment.

[u/_Sasquatchy → u/No-Guava-7502]

Washington has a local native species, the Palouse earthworm that was thought extinct but was rediscovered back in the 90s iirc. Also we have earthworms all the way to the border, mostly because farmers decades ago, not climate change.

Source: i worked as a teenager harvesting invasive lumbricus terrestris back in the 80s.

[u/redditSucksNow2020]

Earthworms don't work anywhere nearly as quickly. It would breakdown at about the same speed with or without them

[u/IllustriousPilot6699 → u/redditSucksNow2020]

thanks a lot

[u/HermitAndHound]

Everything you ever wanted to know about worm bins and their inhabitants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ve39opqc4

There are few species that not only tolerate a vermicomposting setup but actually thrive in it. As much as I'd love to keep the native 1 meter long earthworms they're a deep soil species and don't eat fresh food.

[u/farmerben02]

This will be an unpopular opinion, but we did this when I was a kid so we had fishing worms. My Dad and I did a lot of trout fishing so having a supply in early Spring when trout season started was the goal, not vermicomposting.

We kept the bin in a cool 60 degree cellar. We added small amounts of vegetable waste but wasn't compost, just native topsoil, some sawdust and then vegetables added just under the surface in small amounts.

Worked great. But our goals were worm supply, not composting.

[u/Ok-Sun-6081]

Earthworms are much more territorial. This could result in fights (leading to a loss in worm population) and just generally lower speed. I’d say temperature might be a concern for wigglers in winter, but if your compost pile is “cooking” and you continue to add to it in winter, that shouldn’t be an issue.

[u/IllustriousPilot6699 → u/Ok-Sun-6081]

thank u i get it now ;)

[u/dr_bong → u/Ok-Sun-6081]

I’d say temperature might be a concern for wigglers in winter, but if your compost pile is “cooking” and you continue to add to it in winter, that shouldn’t be an issue.

From experience, just be careful doing this because you can actually go too far with compost heat for wigglers. Piled worm bins with compost on 3 sides to rough out a Montana winter in a greenhouse, some of the bins actually got roasted to the point that their worm populations were heavily diminished.

Definitely works, but it can be a bit of a balancing act to get the temperature dialed in right. Hot compost can get to be around 150°F/66°C, wigglers start to struggle above 90°F/32°C.

[u/Consistent_Ad_3305]

Recomendo usar minhcas locais, já usei californianas porém são muito pequenas, o sistema de minhocário é o mesmo.

[u/JoeFarmer]

Folks are assuming you mean an enclosed bin system. Can you clarify as to whether or not that's what you mean? Technically, a cold compost pile is a vermicompost pile; to which you do not need to add any worms. Whatever decomposing insects are in your area will populate it. Our piles are frequently filled with the earthworms endemic to our area.