Hunt for worms

Information sheet

Collecting the worms for your wormery can be a lot of fun. There are several methods that can be used to collect them, and they have varying degrees of success, but any or all of them can be used.

  • School term: All year round
  • Level of experience: No experience needed
  • Subject(s):

Use the following steps to hunt for worms to fill your mini wormery: 

 

Method 1 – Habitat hunt

Turn over stones and dead wood, look under leaf litter and dig in bare earth.

Method 2 – Stamping up and down

Worms are supposed to be attracted to the surface by vibrations.

Method 3 – Soaking

Thoroughly wet an area of grass, cover it with black plastic and wait for 30 minutes. The water floods the worms’ burrows and unless they come to the surface they will drown. This is why so many worms appear on the surface after rain showers.

Method 4 – Twanging

Put a garden fork into an area of grass and rock it backwards and forwards for 15 minutes. This method has proved to be the most successful means of collecting worms. It may sound and look bizarre, but it works!

Make sure you handle the worms with great care! Their skin is very delicate, avoid over-handling so they don’t dry out.



Find out more Fun facts about worms using the Worm fact sheet.