Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

since my science fair project is on earthworms.i am now preparing my design for this . since this will be going to school ,i was wondering if ,when i am building which would be better to use a plastic or build a wooden box
hope you can help me decide thank you
damien henderson

I've raised red worms and African nightcrawlers in plastic tubs without any problem (I used to have a vermicomposting bin for composting kitchen scraps). They're certainly a lot lighter if you need to transport the box to and from school!

Aside from the weight difference, there's probably not a big advantage of one material over the other. If you are interested in investigating certain aspects of worm behavior it may be important to keep in mind that many earthworms are negatively phototaxic and may tend to avoid the perimeter of a plastic bin, if the sides of the bin are transparent enough to let light through.

-Will

thank you . Mr. Walker
this information is very helpful

sir, would it be all right to use epson salts instead of boric acid as i hven't anyway to get diatmanceous earth,
we very seldon get the beach for shell
thank you again
damienhenderson
ps we are going to go for the paper route for bedding the worms

Hi Damien,

Your worms will do fine without diatomaceous earth or boric acid. I believe these additives are typically used as a pest control agent, to help control certain annoying gnats, etc., that can otherwise colonize the worm box. (These organisms don't typically hurt the worms, they're just annoying to have in the house because unlike the worms, they can fly our of the box and into the rest of the house!) If you are in a warm climate and can keep the worms outside the house, you don't have to worry about pest control in the worm box. However, if you don't have access to the recommended treatments (I'm afraid I don't know whether Epsom salts are an appropriate substitute for diatomaceous earth) you can just build your box a little deeper, and make sure you always keep several inches of bedding over the worms' food, as well as a fine-meshed screen in place over the bin to keep these pests from getting established in the worm box. Put a strip of fly paper under the lid to catch any stray bugs that may wander in, and you'll probably be fine.

My personal experience has been with red worms (Eisenia foetida) or the African nightcrawler (Eudrilus eugeniae), which do fine in, essentially, moist piles of kitchen scraps with a few handfuls of plain dirt thrown in to give them some grit to aid digestion. I've never bothered to provide these species with special additives and they do fine as long as I keep the box moist but not wet. They don't really need much "dirt" to live in, as they basically hang out in the pile of vegetable scraps. If you want to work with nightcrawlers or other "dirt-dwelling" earthworms you you *might* want to give them something other than hard volcanic soil to live in as this may be overly rough on their soft bodies. (You may be able to pick up a bag of topsoil from your local garden center for only a few dollars). You can find a lot of practical information on keeping these and other species of worm on the websites of people that sell earthworms for vermicomposting or raising bait worms; a few google searches on "raising earthworms" will rapidly give you a lot of useful information.

Raising worms is pretty easy and I'd advise you to not worry too much about providing the worms with expensive additives or treatments. They're tough little critters and will do fine with a simple setup.

Good luck,
Will

Hello Mr.Walker.
thank you so much .
with all this great information
thanks to you, i hope to have a great project ,for the science fair
thank you damien

I'm happy to be useful. Good luck with your project!

-Will