Worms: How long until they eat old roots?

[river]

Hi, I grow in 65 liter pots (15 gallon) and added 5 worms (European Nightcrawlers) to each pot. I keep a steady moisture through Blumats. Last time I took a Blumat out I found the worms there, I think making babies or have a little house next to the blumat.

My idea is, that the worms eat the old roots so I "never" have to change the soil. But what I would like to know is, how long it takes until the worms eat the dead roots.

 

[sexycybe]

you will need to add nutrients to the soil as the plants take it out.
5 worms is not enough to eat the roots very quickly, they can eat up to 2 times their body weight a day.
I have a worm bin with ~5000 worms in it and they do take a while unless i puree their food.
They do breed, not super quickly, but they do.
How much do your roots weigh? say its 800g (i would assume you have WAY more in a 65 liter pot, just what i have) and you have 3g of worms, thats 133 days assuming they are only eating the roots and nothing else
Bacteria and other microbes would be breaking it down faster than the worms most likely.

I take my pots after a grow and chuck all the soil (removing the lower trunk from the soil with some roots and chucking it in the compost) and put it all in a giant bin with some rhizomorphic fungi spores and extra organic nutes that they are able to break down. Leave it there for half a year and then re-use it with more nutes added.

Hope that helped, SxC

 

[river]

Hi, interesting! I bought new high tech soil, it's called terra preta but a company makes it. It contains a lot of animal stuff and has many life forms you do not find in regular soil. The pots still have a little space to fill new soil in. I just started 3 months ago and in each pot are 6 plants. I already took some males out. For the joy of the worms I put in some coffee ground (used). Because the worms die from salts I am only using worm complient stuff like effective microorganisms. I don't know how much root mass this is. Once I cut the females there will be root mass of six females I vegged for 2 months or so. Namaste!

 

[sexycybe]

6 plants in each pot? Maybe 6 smaller pots with a plant in each would be more efficient?
Ah males, bummer!
I wouldn't add things to the soil for the worms to eat, If you are after their beneficial casting get a worm farm (best investment ever!)
When the plants are done, shake and hit the soil clump on the end of the trunks to knock off any loose soil. You can add depleted nutrients back into it but if you are buying good soil maybe just get some more?
The roots are of little value to you, i only decompose them in the bin as they might have some beneficial organisms growing on/in them, so they/their spores are released back into the soil for the next grow.
SxC

 

[river]

No, I lke to have bigger pots because I want to create a little pot ecosystem. Something that is big enough so the worms can go for a walk and which keeps stable. I mean stable compared to very small pots. Now that I use LED the evaporation of moisture is not so much a problem with smaller pots but I just made good experience with these kind of pots. Yes I woud get new soil then. They also have fertilizer soil, which would be perfect to put on top. So now I will calculate how much root mass it will be and how many worms I will need. I know they make every 4 weeks new babies. Do you know how long the roots need to rott in the ground until the worms will start eating them? I know they don't go for living roots.

Edit:

OK, one worm weights 1 gram. So for 2000 gram of root mass.. ahm.. 2000 worms and would be gone in 1 day. Wait 2000 gram over a period of 3 months is 20 gram per day. So 20 worms (in case the root mass number is correct. Did you ever weigh your roots after harvest? Yes, you helped me a lot! Thanks!!

 

[sexycybe]

Oh okay, cool.
They should eat them straight away. If you buy/make a worm farm it will be much faster and easier for you.

 

[river]

Yes, good idea, I thought about it too. But I would like to see the pots I have as kind of a worm farm. Each worm makes one cocoon per week which contains 1 worm. So from 5 worms I have since 4 weeks: 1 worm makes 4 worms per month. 5 worms make 20 per month. They become mature breeders after 3 months. So right now I am set I would say Let's see if my plan works out