Collecting worms

[ExeAngler]

Morning,

Anyone know a good way of collecting worms without stamping around at night on grass? I was thinking of putting a black dustbin bag on some grass and leaving it over night. May be some worms under it in the morning?

Thanks

[Troydog]

Red worms and brandlings thrive in a compost heap. Lobworms lie on top of grass after a wet, mild day. No need to stamp anywhere; you just walk quietly along picking up the worms as you go. You can collect 60 in half an hour if you choose the right evening.

[Phil Arnott]

Do a search for wormery on this site - lots of information.

[Dave Burr]

You can charm them out of the ground in various ways,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_charming

I've done it by sticking a fork in the ground and moving it back and forth but many methods are adopted during the National Worming Championship.

[Santiago]

Use an old car battery (needs to be charged) and starter cables connected to long metal pegs stuck in the ground to at least a foot, with the pegs at least about three feet apart. Plug in and simply wait for the worms to wriggle to the surface.

Never tried it myself but there's a big following of this method in the States.

PS. They refer to worms as night crawlers!

[Dave Burr]

I've just corrected the link above,

[Mr B]

Our worms in our garden are sacred.
My lovely wife is always rescuing our worms.
Unfortunately (or fortunately for me she is a gardener, I cant stand gardening, really have done my share over the years professionally and out duty)
So... I dig for them, pick them up first if I can under things if the weather has been worm friendly if your a fisherman and un friendly if your a worm! But not in my garden.

I wont use the soapy water technique out if respect for the worms. But I have and it dose work but it must be tuff on the worms..
All worms that are not used are always put back on or in the ground.., never thrown in the river.
Anglers morals a, we all have our own!

Mr B
Ps... I will break them up and throw them in when fishing though!!!
"Nothing stranger than folk"

[Banksy]

Red worms and brandlings thrive in a compost heap. Lobworms lie on top of grass after a wet, mild day. No need to stamp anywhere; you just walk quietly along picking up the worms as you go. You can collect 60 in half an hour if you choose the right evening.

And if you choose the wrong evening, you can find yourself staring down the twin barrels of a 12-bore shotgun.
It happened to me one dark night when a neighbour was returning home at 1am after a lock-in at the village pub, saw a suspicious shape (me) lurking on our back lawn, and decided to apprehend me.

[Snape]

On warm mild dark evenings they come to surface and if you can get to a village cricket pitch you can collect hundreds in a short space of time.

[Catfish.017]

Red worms and brandlings thrive in a compost heap. Lobworms lie on top of grass after a wet, mild day. No need to stamp anywhere; you just walk quietly along picking up the worms as you go. You can collect 60 in half an hour if you choose the right evening.

Those Herefordshire worms must be rather more laid back than the ones on my lawn back in Wales. Those blighters always had their tails just in the burrow and retracted like lightning at any hint of danger! Must be the Cider!