I was watering my houseplants yesterday and I noticed a couple of things. First, many of the plants have soil that has been packed rather tightly from two years of watering. I know in nature soil is naturally broken up and aerated by earthworms and things, so this got me thinking. Could I put earthworms in the pots of my houseplants? Would they have enough room? Food to eat? etc. I've asked around but no one seems to know anything about the dietary habits of earthworms.
Secondly, I noticed that many of my houseplants are growing toward my ligts instead of toward the window. We have the new GE reveal brand lightbulbs that are supposed to similate sunlight. It seems that they have the added bonus of working as plant lights, a good thing when you have all north-facing windows.

applescruff

I don't know what the dietary requirements are for earthworms, but I have some that live in my refrigerator that I feed all kinds of stuff to. I give them coffee grounds, corn meal, lettuce, all kinds of vegetables shredded up, bread...well, about everything except meat and milk! (Mine are vegetarians!)

Don't know if they'd live in houseplants, but maybe someone else will know that.

Glad you told me about those bulbs! That is a way cool bonus! I'm gonna get some of them!

Cindy

First, AFGP is right on with her worm diet, they would like a little molasses too, not much, about a teaspoon to a pint of water, applied to soil. As far as 'living' in your house plants, well as long as chemical fertilizers were not used they MAY live there, however I doubt they will thrive or multiply. Raise the worms seperately, then transfer them to your garden. Regular 'garden' soil WILL , after successive waterings, pack down and is not good for houseplants, try to remove as much of the soil as possible and replace with a potting soil of some type....a couple of worms in your flower pot won't do much to aerate the soil there.

cindy, tell me more about the earthworms in the fridge. i am looking for a way to keep some in the house for the same purpose....

errrrrrr... thank you, but now that I think about it, I think I'll pass on your dinner invitation...

Don't have the Spaghetti Bill!

Jiffy, try this link! Raise worms Anywhere