My 84 year old Dad does not do internet, so I am asking a question for him. His compost pile includes half a load of mushroom dirt and half a load of native cedar along with usual scrap additions. It has no earthworms, although it had an abundance last year. Can anyone tell us if not having earthworms in the pile is a problem? If so, what is the solution? Thanks for helping.

I've found that my worm population cycles. Sometimes I have a bunch and sometimes I have few. The population will balance out with the worm predators.

Neither mushroom dirt or cedar are broken down as a finished compost. Along with the other scrap additions, the pile might be too hot for worms to live in it.

half a load of mushroom dirt and half a load of native cedar along with usual scrap additions.

When did he add the mushroom/cedar? When he first set up the pile, or later, after he had his first good year?

Cedar is usually not a good wood to vermicompost with. The aromatic oils are at the very least irritating to the worms, and likely poisionous. The mushroom dirt is all right.

The other thing I can think of is that perhaps there were not enough scraps to keep them fed. Wood doesn't offer much in the way of nutrition, it's more like a medium for them to swim in. If you spread the scraps far and wide in the pile, the worms could die of starvation rushing from one food source to the next, and they're not used to eating that way. They prefer to eat at one "diner" 'till it's all gone, then move to the next "restaurant", hopefully, next door.

I hate to say it, but have him start a new pile using other materials. Let the other pile age for a year or two in the weather, and after that, add small amounts of it to the new pile.

shale, I believe that Dchall_San_Antonio, KHWOZ, and Priswell each have hit upon "causes" for your Dad's worm woes.

My pile (not containerized) also sees cycles or ebbs and flows in the worm populations. I have even attempted to "farm" worms by seeding my pile with Red Wrigglers. Don't waste your time or money.

The pile may be working "hot" which may cause the worms to move elsewhere. My original thought, in my own case, was that the worms would move to the outer cooler sections of the pile. So much for my trying to think like a worm

The cedar oils may be a problem. That sounds reasonable, but I don't know for certain.

Another possibility (or could be in conjunction with any or all of the above) is that your Dad's pile is too dry. The worms like moist.

Let us know how things work out for your Dad and his worms.

Thanks for all your replies. I have printed and forwarded the information to my Dad. I'll let you know how the worms turn!

In my yard I've found a couple of those flatworms (planaria) that Howard has discussed on the radio recently. They *may* have come in via bags of no-float cypress mulch from the garden center. (My only evidence of this is that the two I saw in the last month were each plastered in slime to the plastic on the underside of bags from the nursery.) I'm familiar enough with the shape of the flatworm that I'd remember having seen them before this, even without his commentary. I've had a healthy worm population up to this point, and I'm still seeing a lot of them this year, but I wonder if that is about to change?

Howard suggests that flatworms eat worms (I saw a flatworm apparently consuming a snail under one bag). I've picked the flatworms up, wrapped them in paper and dropped them in the trash can, not in the compost like I might have with other critters. I don't want them segmenting themselves into an army (my compost is fairly passive, not particularly hot or fast) Since worms do live in and around my compost, I wonder if I should heat it up some to try to kill off the planaria, should they decide to head to that corner of the yard for their dining pleasure?

Any thoughts?