The Word on Worms and Septic Tanks

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Is it true you can use worms to help a septic tank operate correctly? What kind of worms would be best?

by DON AND ANGIE
Kansas

That one's new to us. The health of a septic system depends on the presence of anaerobic bacteria - primitive, single-cell life forms that exist in dark, stagnant places and are responsible for noxious gases like sulfur dioxide (which produce a rotten-egg smell), as well as the toxin that causes botulism in improperly canned food. Septic-tank bacteria, which cannot survive in the presence of sunlight or free oxygen, make a hard crust on top of the fluid contents to keep oxygen out. No self-respecting worm could survive there long because worms depend on oxygen to sustain life. Indeed, they exhibit many of the characteristics of higher life: They have distinct organs, move about on their own and reproduce sexually.

Many varieties of worm can thrive in the water flowing from a properly functioning septic system, which is clear, odorless and nearly sterile, so you may have seen worms wiggling around in the fluid or soil at the outflow of a septic system. But they didn't come out of the tank - they came up from the land.

The crabapple tree in my yard has a ten-foot sucker growing from the base. I would like toknow how to root this sucker and transplant it.

J. HALEY
Idaho

Sorry, J., but it can't be done. The sucker is living off the parent tree's entire root system, so you can't remove it along with a section of root without putting the parent tree at risk. At ten feet, it is far too large to graft onto another root stem. Another fact to consider is that apple trees don't sprout roots from stem wood the way many other plants do.

The best thing you can do with that sucker is lop it off, otherwise the tree will waste too much energy supporting the sucker's younger wood. The sucker, which is not anchored to the trunk the way proper limbs are, is a bit of a hazard in other ways, too. It can easily break off after it has grown, creating serious wounds in the trunk and leaving you with a misshapen parent tree.

If you really want to preserve the sucker, find a wild apple seedling in the woods and graft sprigs from your sucker onto the seedling's trunk; then transplant the youngster into your yard and watch it grow.