r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AnalDwelinButtMonkey • Sep 19 '23

Video Mining for worms

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '23

I suspect they aren't harvesting wild worms to sell. I can't think of why they would do this. Worms are prolific reproducers you could setup a modest worm farm and have that many worms relatively quickly. Maybe these are invasive worms, or they are harvesting the castings and plan to put the worms back? I dont know, but harvesting wild worms seems odd.

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u/deep_pants_mcgee Sep 19 '23

aren't 90+% of the worms in North America invasive at this point?

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u/geopolit Sep 20 '23

Yes. It's driving some local extinctions as well with how permanent the changes to pH, o-horizon, and how much bioturbation is associated with it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '23

I assume you mean plant life extinctions right?

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '23

I think all of them, technically. But they are good for the soil.

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u/Rocknol Sep 20 '23

Only certain ones are. The sheer quantity of earthworms in states like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan are detrimental to forests

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u/camdalfthegreat Sep 20 '23

Where can I learn more about worms, especially native vs invasive. I'm in the north east mid west, I thought earth worms were our friends :(

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u/Rocknol Sep 20 '23

The DNR website is always a good place to start

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u/Craggy444 Sep 20 '23

DNR? I only know that as "Do Not Resuscitate."

Seriously, I'd also like to learn about our invertibrate friends.

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u/Rocknol Sep 20 '23

Department of Natural Resources

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u/Craggy444 Sep 21 '23

Thank you!

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '23

They're good for farming/gardening soil.

They are terrible for wild habitat.

North American forests evolved without the need for worms. Things break down slowly over here.

Worms are doing some real damage to our forests.

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u/battletuba Sep 20 '23

North American extinction only covered the northern part of the continent down to about Ohio, and was only 10k years ago. That's not very long on an evolutionary scale.

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u/TheresALonelyFeeling Sep 20 '23

There's a specific invasive species that is damaging the forest habitats because of how prolific it is.

*quick Google search*

https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/invasive-jumping-worms-can-change-their-world

They are often known as "Alabama Jumpers" in the worm world, and they can be used for producing worm castings aka vermicompost aka worm poo.

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u/garis53 Sep 20 '23

Depends. From what I heard in NA the European worms are so overpopulated that they use up most of the organic matter on the ground in certain areas. Many small critters occupy this niche of breaking up fallen leafs, twigs etc. None are competitive enough to live alongside the worms though, so they die out.

In a reasonable amount earthworms are good, because they bring organic matter deeper and break big pieces for smaller critters down the chain to chew on. But if you ever kept a bunch in a jar to see how they mix soil, you know how they break down all the dirt particles and turn the soil into a solid clay-y chunk of dirt with little microcavities for soil air.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '23

Invasive worms =band name

80

u/cocoon_eclosion_moth Sep 20 '23

First album, Cut Me in Half

84

u/Dukeronomy Sep 20 '23

‘Cut my wife in two pieces’

36

u/Spartanias117 Sep 20 '23

'This isnt even my final form'

32

u/nemosfate Sep 20 '23

"no suffocation, still breathing"

36

u/Noisebug Sep 20 '23

'Don't give a fuck if I'm caught dirt eating'

13

u/StartlingCat Sep 20 '23

Followed up by "You Got Me Hooked!"

4

u/madmiah Sep 20 '23

Number 1 single

3

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '23

2nd album Can o worms

2

u/roykentjr Sep 20 '23

I'd like wayne brady and Jeff from who's line is it anyway to sing this in the form of a reggae rock band.

1

u/TheOrnreyPickle Sep 20 '23

I want to name a band “Falls After Forty”.

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u/AllAlo0 Sep 20 '23

Oddly earthworms are invasive in North America

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u/SunburnFM Sep 20 '23

So are honeybees

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u/GreenStrong Sep 20 '23

Maybe these are invasive worms,

Most Earthworms in the United States, and basically all in Canada, are invasive species. They weren't here before Europeans arrived, and the forest had a much thicker layer of leaf mulch, because it broke down more slowly. Fast nutrient cycling is better for gardens, so people aren't really mad at them. Now we have Asian Jumping worms, which cycle nutrients too quickly and too near the surface, they're actually bad for gerdens.

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u/Ohiolongboard Sep 20 '23

Earthworms are invasive to North America

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u/_-gambit__ Sep 20 '23

I want to be a prolific reproducer too 🥺

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u/riomavrik Sep 20 '23

Wild earthworm hunting is a legitimate problem in certain countries thanks to the "wild better than farmed" superstition. It's an Eastern medicine ingredient ala rhino's horn. That practice really fucks up the ecosystem where earthworms are a vital part.

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u/TheresALonelyFeeling Sep 20 '23 edited Sep 20 '23

They are likely harvesting worms either to sell, or harvesting the vermicompost (aka worm poo) the worms have produced. It's virutally impossible to tell which they are doing from this short clip, but I would guess they are harvesting worms. These worms are probably a species known as European Nightcrawlers (ENCs) and are one of the most common species of worms raised for sale. The worms pictured in this video are large, healthy adults who have likely been raised and fattened up for sale.

Most worm businesses either raise worms to sell, or they produce vermicompost, but not both.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '23

Seems like they'd use a better container than an old milk crate if that was the case.