I bought a 40 gallon livestock watering trough for my new patio container garden (also lots of pots and an Earth Box for two tomato plants). My son-in-law suggest that I get some worms and put in the trough. Is that a good suggestion? I know worms certainly keep the earth in better shape, but I'm just learning about container gardening.
Donna in SW Idaho
For one thing used as planters you'll need to drill several drainage holes in your watering trough... I see no point in adding worms... place the trough directly on the ground and if worms want to enter they will decide. Unless worms are free to go back into the ground at will as temperatures increase and decrease they will die. Earthworms live within the top ten feet of soil, they burrow deeper during the heat of a summer day and during freezes... weather permitting they come to the surface at night, ergo night crawlers.
In such a container, they will quickly consume digestable organic matter and then die. They really need more room.
Rather than spend money on worms, try collecting a few after a rain or after watering your garden.
unfortunately, worms tend to wander off at night and a raised bed or container above ground isn't the best location for them (too hot, too cold, too variable). you can put worms in and it won't hurt things, but it won't help much for long either. certain species might do better than others (avoid night crawlers as they need deep burrows in certain kinds of soil to do well).
you are better off using a good potting mix and making sure the plants used are able to tolerate the temperature extremes and still do well.
40 gallons is plenty of room for keeping worms if the container is in the ground in a shaded location or if it is well mulched to keep from getting too hot or too cold (if your frost line in the soil is more than the depth of the container then that is not a good thing as the worm population will be knocked back each winter).songbird
Clear plastic, tightly over the pot would ameliorate the cold during the winter, and, perhaps, allow the worms to survive.
The rest of us just need an iPad.
Thanks for all the replies. The trough is on my patio, so even though we drilled holes in the bottom, the worms would not have access to the ground. Guess I'll forget that idea!
We're supposed to have high winds this evening as a cold front comes in. Gotta figure out some way to protect my tomatoes from getting wind whipped.
D> In article
In case you missed this one:
I'd not have destroyed a new perfectly sound watering trough with holes, I'd have used it to hold plants in large clay pots. And forget all about worms, no one adds live worms to potted plants, there's no point, and they'd die within hours.
Wrap a tomato arbor (available at nurseries, or make one) in clear plastic (which is available from the paint department of your local hardware store). Be careful of the "sail effect".
I no longer live in the country with livestock that needs drinking water, so the trough with holes drilled in it works for me!
I solved the wind problem for my plants by poking long skewers in the ground and tying off the tomato and pepper plants to the skewers. Worked great. Even with the high winds, my plants are still intact.
D>
Obviously some have more dollars than brain cells:
You assume a lot - I paid $39 for a rotational molded 44 gallon tank.
It would have cost more to buy enough large clay pots to hold the plants I put in the tank. Clay pots aren't exactly cheap when you start buying the larger sizes.
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Not much if you need to ask about adding worms to planters.
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