Earthworms are not a good idea for container grown plants. Worms feed on organic matter, right? That's what they do.....feed on the bits and pieces of 'stuff ' and turn it into worm poop. In our gardens and lawns, worms are very beneficial; within the confines of a container they reduce a nice, coarse textured medium into.....well, worm poop. Good stuff in the garden as part of the big working mechanics and chemistry of a soil system, but mucky and sticky in containers. After all, our objective for any potting medium must be that it remains porous, coarse, and fast draining. Worms muck that up in a container.

I suggest that you find a good, porous potting soil which will allow the roots to develop robustly and use a soluble fertilizer of your choice. Containerized plants rely on us to provide nutritional support....there's a million products on the market to help us do just that, including organic fertilizers.

Earthworms just aren't of any benefit in the containers with our plants.

Do you want to talk about the issues with your plants?

Thanks.

I just posted a thread for growing mint indoors, http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/herbs/msg101525192282.html Although I think that the soil I am using is pretty porous, mint plant is giving a lot of trouble. I naively thought that worms could be beneficial. Any insight in that thread will be useful.