Worms

I cleared out the bunch of lilies today into separate containers.  The big container had 8 shoots, plus a little tiny one popping up, so I was a little surprised to realize that there were 14 total bulbs crammed in there.  Interestingly enough, I had noticed that all the water had been sucked dry from the container since I planted the bulbs a little over one week ago.  It really made me think about the watering needs of these plants.  Usually when you think of tropical plants, you think about the heat, but they are also acclimatized to sucking up as much water as they can get.

When I pulled one of the plants out to transplant it, I noticed there was some riff-raff.

A few worms hanging out in the soil.  Bad picture because of all the moisture affecting the flash.

Better picture once I dropped the bulb into a tote of dry peat.

As soon as I saw the worms, I suddenly remembered that when I was planting the bulbs originally into the big container, one of them had a lot of soil clumped around it and I had spotted a worm digging around in there.  I figured I would leave it be, it is only going to help my plant with nutrient-rich vermicompost.  So when I spotted at least a handful of worms in the soil, I have to say I was pretty impressed with the rate of reproduction.  I've read a little about worms and needless to say, those 5 worms are now breeding an army large enough to kill us all.  Until they get uppity and start trying to escape their container, I'll leave them be.  Maybe I'll start a worm bin for them; I decided to throw a few brussel sprout leaves and peanut shells on top of the soil in the two containers where most of those worms ended up.  They should poke up some night to pull them down to munch on. 

While I was at it, I couldn't resist snapping a couple more photos of some of these roots.

Those roots are massive, no wonder the water was all gone in the container!

This is a different bulb, with a handful of impressive roots.  It's not only the length, but these are firm, tough, thick roots compared to what I was seeing when I first planted them.  Also, I wanted a picture of this bulb because it shows a brand new part of the bulb that has expanded from the main section and a new shoot that is just beginning to break through the soil and emerge toward the sun.

As I said, it was 14 bulbs, 14 containers.  I'm a little concerned about how to make room in front of the window for all of them.  It looks like the "bathroom lilies" will be getting at least one roommate, and maybe I'll get a shelf up in my office at the window.  And thankfully, I took a quick glance through the Home Depot flyer this morning, where I spotted shoebox containers for only $0.67 each, so I picked up 20.  I may just go back tomorrow to snatch up 20 more while they're on sale.

UPDATE:  The large bathroom lily has already, in just 36 hours, taken up half the space left to the ceiling.  It grew about 2-3" and has maybe 2" left until it hits the ceiling.  Actually, because it was bleak weather on Saturday, and beyond bleak today, the leaves haven't really gotten as much sun as they would like and are a little wilted and slumping.  I wouldn't be surprised if an hour or so of good sunlight has the big lily pressing the ceiling tomorrow morning--that is, assuming we get a little sun.