earthworms...to use, or not to use?

I always add a few worms to every pot when growing indoors, it can't hurt. If you see the worms leaving, you will know something is wrong with the soil long before it effects your plant.

I was considering this, then I started a worm bin for castings. The main reason is that unless you are growing big 6 month photo plants is that indoors with autos you just wont have the time to let the worms develop a good level of castings, plus space in the pots would be low due to root formation. In the garden its different - worms have already been composting it for millennia so have their equilibrium established with maximum populations and composting power. Worms - red wigglers or european nightcrawlers are the best for composting, you can get them in tubs from fishing stores for next to nothing for small scale or you can order bulk weight like 1lb /0.5kg. I am small scale with about 250 worms although thinking of increasing to 400 which is about 1/2lb. I have small daily food waste so cant support a large colony. You can set up a tiered system for perpetual vermiculture composting for like 20 USD for the materials you need. After that, if you set it up right and go through the motions you should be looking at a good bucket of worm casting every couple of months. I will probably just add 5% to my substrate in future as I am dry organics. The rest will be going on my house plants, compost teas or maturing to till into next years veg patch.

I think GrowCN is right that most indoor grow pots limit the ability for worms to live naturally. Most indoor Pots will be a massive root mass with no space for worms to maneuver but the time youre starting flower. But like CCC said, if you were to use an oversized pot that wouldnt fill entirely with roots - it would likely work better. But that limits alot of other things that likely wont make it worth while. There are alternatives to actual living worms in your plants - such as worm castings or casting tea you can add to your soil as needed

I use worms in the outdoor garden but I never have inside. At the end of a grow my pot is an entire, solid mass of roots. There just isn't much room for worms. Plus, indoors I'm growing in a prepared potting soil that is ready to go so it doesn't need the remediation that earthworms provide.

Hi, I’ve seen folks use worms indoors when gardening in a huge trough of living soil—- like those 20 gallon 4x4 pots. I use only 5-7 gallon pots indoors—- so it’s a no go for me. Never know until you try! ✌️🏻💚🌿💨