Check out this video of earthworms making short work of a pile of compost, grass, and sawdust. Worms eat dirt, animal manure, and organic matter such as leaves, dead roots, and grass. Their digestive systems turn their meals into humus full of necessary plant nutrients.

Do red wigglers eat live roots?

This manure contained composting red worms. Are they eating the roots of my young plants? I know earthworms will leave the plant roots alone, but red worms are SUPPOSED to eat all living material.

Do worms eat live roots?

Earthworms eat seeds and seedlings, scientists have found.

The discovery they eat live rather than just dead plants will change the way we think about earthworms, which had been thought to benefit plants by recycling soil nutrients.