Hi -I have an interest in worms to do the following – improve the soil where I will be growing
veg next year…compost the bin…and get rid of dog poo!

If there is one that will do all..I am interested..if not which for each job.
I would appreciate yyour help.

cheers
KEITH

Hi Keith,

From your description, you are looking for two types of worms.

Alabama Jumpers are GREAT worms for your dirt. The Jumpers can navigate
even heavy clay soil . They are an extremely strong worm. The goal here is
to dump the Jumpers into your soil and let them do their thing (Grow large
and reproduce). If you maintain a nice layer of damp leaf litter on top of
your soil, you will get the benefit of the leaf litter decomposing and
making your soil softer, plus the litter becomes the food for the
Jumpers…giving them a reason to stick around. The Jumpers are sold in
batches of 1,000.

I also sell composting worms (Red Wigglers, European Nightcrawlers, and
African Nightcrawlers). All will produce castings that will DEFINITELY
improve your soil. But composting worms are soft bodied and are for
maintaining in a worm bin (Not sure if this is what you are calling your
compost bin). Composting worms live in bedding (Such as soaked fluffed
newspaper), and eat food scraps (Produce trimmings). The goal with a
composting worm is to get them to swarm your scraps and bedding, and poop
out beautiful beneficial bacteria laden Vermicast! This will make your soil
healthy, which will make your plants healthy. If you have never tried it,
you will be amazed. Most people start with between 1-3
pounds of worms depending on the amount of household produce scraps they would like
processed.

The composting worms will also work to break down your dogs poop!

Two things to be aware of here:
1. If your dog has been given active worm medication, their poop will have
worm medication residue. If the worms eat the poop when it is still fresh,
you risk killing your worms. I believe the residue does not last long, but
you would need to test it out to be sure.

2. Because dogs are carnivores, there is the chance of cross contamination
from dog poop/worm poop/your fruits and vegetables. It is always
recommended to make sure you keep worms and castings (That contacted the pet waste)
completely away from coming into contact with any plants that you ingest. Use these
castings for your ornamentals only.

Hope this helps!

If you are reading this blog, you probably are a worm lover, and think the pictures above are pretty cool. If you randomly found this website, you probably think you are in the middle of a NIGHTMARE.

Let’s take a look at some of the more common types of worms commercially available, and their purposes.

Only a few types of worms are recommended for composting. In my opinion, these are the three best types of worms for composting:

Red Wigglers
European Nightcrawlers
African Nightcrawlers

The reasons why these worms are great composters is because they share certain characteristics:
Top feeders
Voracious
Prolific in captivity

But, what if you want to raise worms for more than just composting?
Do you like to fish? Would you like NEVER to worry about whether or not the bait store has any worms left? Great Bait worms:

Canadian Nightcrawlers
European Nightcrawlers
Alabama Jumpers
African Nightcrawlers

The reasons why these worms are great bait worms is because they share certain characteristics:
Large size (Especially the Canadians)!

Want a great worm for your garden! Try Alabama Jumpers. I’ve never seen a stronger, more active worm. They are so distinctive, even the babies JUMP like crazy! Please understand, most commercially available worms are NOT suited to live in soil. Alabama Jumpers do well in heavy clay soil.

Always make sure you’re using the RIGHT worm for the Job!

Have a specific question? Ask the Worm Dude on my forum! Happy to help.