JohnW - 11/17/2012 02:01 Just my opinion, but I don't think you want "night-crawler" worms. Night-crawlers chew up an amazing amount of surface residue and you can wind up with bare soil in short order. They are considered an "invasive species" in some places and have caused problems in forest in some areas by quickly consuming the normal duff layer on the soil. Talk to Dr. Jill Clapperton about night-crawlers. http://www.bioagtive.com/?s=1&p=413&op=153 I have seen erosion on no-till too in the NW Palouse region and one problem is that behind a John Deere type No-till drill on 7.5" rows with wide gauge wheels and rear support tires the soil surface behind the drill is as smooth as if it were rolled. But the smart guys at the NRCS office don't want to hear about surface roughness or soil disturbance. Next, be careful with rippers on hilly ground. Water can find those slots and follow them downhill and then make some real gullies. Yes, nightcrawlers eat lots of residue, but they also create and maintain vertical burrows that allow for really fast water conduction away from the soil surface. Yes, I realize they are viewed askance in some forestry systems. At one time, Jill was opposed to introducing nightcrawlers in cropland, but I think she's modified her stance on this after seeing what Dwayne Beck and others were accomplishing. | 
no till and water runoff
