Worms

To the membership receiving the email newsletters for the Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame or the Western Heritage Horticultural Society, ya’ll need to come and see this exciting In the Dark exhibit. Bring your kids and grandchildren, even the deep down little kid in you will connect to the exhibit displays and bring back childhood memories.

Helen, from West Texas, Seminole, THANK YOU for the phone call and conversation about this exhibit and what Dr. Dirt was adding to the displays, especially the “living soil profile series”. I greatly enjoyed that one and learned a lot.  Thank you for comments and coming to see the “In the Dark” exhibit too. Dr. Dirt will be adding more information along the way.

Question: What are some other interesting facts about worms in the soil, my yard and garden?

Answer: The term ‘worm’ can have several meanings. Generally, a worm is an immature larval stage of insects, which can be good or bad. Example, caterpillars on plants. Is that worm eating your favorite flower? Bad worm! As this worm pupates, lives to make a cocoon and lives in it for a while and then emerges turning into a beautiful butterfly. Now, this butterfly has become a great pollinator. Other worms, change into hard shell beetles and not so pretty and do damage as living adults.

What I think you are referring to, is the earthworms. They are very beneficial to the soil and they do not eat your favorite flowers roots either.

Did you Know – Facts:

Depending on soil quality, there can be 250,000-1.75 million earthworms per acre of land, in the common soils of Lea County it's closer to the 250,000…lots of worms!

Here’s an interesting note. An average farm with livestock, the weight of the worms beneath the soil’s surface will likely outweigh the livestock that walk on top.

Earthworms can consume half to one times their body weight every day. They are nature's garbage disposers and consume a wide variety of organic matter, tiny rocks; enriching the soil profile.

Certain earthworms can live up to 50-years old and other types living up to 4-8 years of age. Many only live for 1-2years as they are the bottom of the food chain for a great hosts of other animal life.

There are 6,000 species of earthworms known, and a 120 species are widely dispersed around the world.

David Hooten -AKA, Dr. Dirt