The Mighty Earthworm

The biologist Charles Darwin stated in his 1881 book about earthworms and humus:

“It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures.”

Earthworms have been the most neglected creatures on our earth; everywhere we hear the cries for help to save endangered species of flora and fauna but our humble and silent earthworm has had only a handful of support.

This is all slowly changing with the increased awareness of the benefits of consuming organic and bio-dynamic produce. The growers of these types of produce know that “man’s best friend” does not have four legs, but is a loyal worker turning waste products into a usable fertilizer 24 hours a day seven days a week.

In the soil there are two mail types of worms. First there are the shallow dwellers, generally living in the top six inches of the soil. These worms are your main composting ones – they devour any organic matter laying on the surface and take it below ground to the cool moist environment where feeder roots from plants live so happily. As they burrow their way along aerating the soil at the same time, they also allow increased root development through forming tunnels.

These tunnels also allow increased water absorption and the castings left behind act like sponges. After these we have the deeper burrowing ‘ night crawlers’ – these sometimes rather large creatures burrow down some meters below the surface and greatly help to reduce water-logging as well aiding in prolific root growth. Only occasionally after torrential rain will these beings venture above ground to escape drowning and can at first glance be mistaken for a small snake.

The efficiency of the earthworm lies entirely in its design. As Aristotle so rightly said “worms are the intestines of the earth”. With a few ingenious modifications, the earthworm really is one long intestine.

These modifications include three pairs of calciferous glands, which are constantly producing calcium carbonate, adding it to any food input and balancing any acidity of the food to a more neutral substance thus being able to lift pH in acidic soils, and the buffering action of carbonic acid reduces pH in alkaline soils. So, with whole armies of earthworms we can achieve natural balance in the soil, reducing any need for limestone applications.

Through their constant burrowing into the sub-soil, earthworms gradually deepen the topsoil while also bringing essential minerals to the surface.

The most serious problem facing modern agriculture has been the rapid decline in humus (organic carbon) levels in our soils. As reported in Appendix B Pt. l G, of the now infamous “agriculture lectures” delivered by Dr. Rudolph Steiner, that “humus and humus again should be given to the soil in every conceivable form (compost, leaf mold, etc.)”.

Anhydrous ammonia is the greatest threat to this humus formation, for with even only one application of this powerful substance, whole colonies of earthworms have been totally destroyed. This practice must stop in order to rectify the inevitable result, which will be a completely unusable desert. Our humble earthworm is the most efficient producer of humus, transforming up to its own body weight per day of organic matter into humus.

Cover crops, manures and compost must be added to the agricultural program. “Feed your soil and your soil will feed your plants”, such is the cry of the organic farmer. Applying chemical fertilizer to your soil is not feeding it, but bypasses it, going directly to the plants making the soil nothing but a growing medium and destroying it in the process.

From all this, we can say that the earthworm has a great impact on our soil with it’s burrowing and humus making activities, however there are problems in re-establishing good earthworm populations in soils that have been subjected to heavy chemical treatment or those that hove suffered from nutritional neglect. Merely sending in new recruits to the battlefield is useless unless management practices are altered.

Reduced tillage and increased surface mulch are two important management changes that will improve conditions. The use of tillage systems that leave surface residue is an important technique to increase earthworm populations. This residue creates a mulching effect, which protects the soil from drying out as well as protecting it from extreme temperatures, allowing the earthworms to feed and produce for longer in both spring and autumn.

Earthworms are prime indicators of soil health, but it has never been convincingly determined whether they are the instigators or merely contributors to high fertility. They certainly do contribute to higher levels of bacteria in the soil, but if given the opportunity to choose between an existing microbe rich environment and a sterile situation, they will always gravitate to the former.

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