Worming 101

[Azeotrope]

Excited today as I found a local individual that has a ready supply of worms for sale. $30.00/lb and I can pick them up without ordering and doing the shipping thing. This person is just trying to suppliment retirement income and enjoy their gardening. Sounds like I can help them make a little cash and get worms year round if needed.

Sometimes craigslist is just golden!

 

[ClackamasCootz]

$30.00 per lb. is a fair price for single pounds around here anyway. That's before S&H charges are added which is usually around $10.00 per pound......

CC

 

[Azeotrope]

CC - That is what I thought and quite frankly, it is a local purchase with someone in the community that is making a go at enjoying retirement from nursing. The way I figure it, this is good for them, me and the community in general. Going to grab a pound tomorrow. Gotta kick up the casting output!

Spring is right around the corner........

 

[ClackamasCootz]

AZ

While you're there ask about buying some EWC - that's how I started out, bought some worms and picked-up enough castings to get me up & running until I had my own to use.

It's worth a shot anyway...

 

[Azeotrope]

Good thought. I will. Thanks and good evening. Time to crash for the night.

 

[OrganicLearner]

I have a batch of supersoil sitting and I don't want to use it all straight for the soil I plan on recycling; should I use it for the worms primary feed? What I'm wondering is if turning it into vermicompost would it be a bad thing making some of the items in the mix more available like the dolomite lime? I used two different types of lime in this mix a calcitic type lime and a Whitney farms dolomite lime, the one that concerns me is the Whitney farms one because it was black and looked kinda like charcoal..

These are the rest of the exact items in the mix :

6 bags of roots organic and 2 bags of bio bizz light mix
25-50 lbs. of organic worm castings
5 lbs. of Blood meal 12-0-0
5 lbs. Bat guano 0-5-0
5 lbs. Fish Bone Meal 3-16-0
¾ cup Epsom salt
1 cup Sweet lime (Dolomite)
½ cup Azomite ( Trace element)
2 Tbs. powdered Humic acid
1/2 and 1/2 of crushed oyster shells and Epsom salts

If I just kept the mix in trash cans and threw a bunch of worms in would it be alright?

 

[W89]

Thought I would post picture of my "worm farm"


Tub with Lid on. for when I have room inspection joys of living and growing in a hostel... LOL


This is how I keep the worm farm so it doesnt get too moist I've never had an escapees...So I think they must like it like that.


"Fred & his mates...LOL

 

[Greenheart]

Uncle Jim's is having a winter sale. I recieved 2 pounds for $40 including shipping. Possibly even a coupon discount as well code is ujw10!

 

[W89]

i'm gonna be getting 3k redwigglers for £29 pretty good eh?

 

[W89]

I've got a worm in my tub that has 2 tails has anyone seen this before?

 

[MrSterling]

Once! It turned out to be two very intertwined worms.

 

[W89]

this is actually 1 worm I will have a look for him tomorrow and tke a pic

 

[OrganicLearner]

Nvm everybody I was thinking and thought some people are probably using similar ingredients and dolomite in there mixes and letting worms in there pots with no problems so I'm just going to toss em in and see what happens...

 

[Pseudo]

coot could you send me the plans to the pvc bin heater? im 44N and im trying to design a large wormbin that will produce at least one gallon per day, and being able to keep it outside in the winter would be a plus

 

[Pseudo]

also i see a lot of people using bars or metal tubing for a grate, is there an advantage over using say 1/2 mesh? what is the optimum size for the bottom screen? and what is the deal with the dual winches on the larger models? couldnt you just tap the frame with a sledge if it was built rite?
thank you

 

[W89]

one thing you could do it have a bucket with fish tank heater in... then run a hose off a pump and run it through the worm bin and back into the bucket... basicly just recirculating the warm water through it.. just a thought

 

[Pseudo]

i made some act with the castings from my rubbermaid, they have been in there over 3 months and are a dark fine mud, my tea didnt get the darker color it gets with wiggleworm castings, is this normal?

 

[Scrappy4]

i made some act with the castings from my rubbermaid, they have been in there over 3 months and are a dark fine mud, my tea didnt get the darker color it gets with wiggleworm castings, is this normal?

Nothing to worry about bro. I pitched my old Rubbermaid bins as worm farms, partly because of the wet sludge like castings. But they made excellent teas, the plants love them.

BTW I now use a large smart pot as a vermi compost bin over the rubbermaids and won't look back. I think the worms are happier too, since there not all trying to escape the damp bins....scrappy

 

[Pseudo]

nice, good to know, im trying to come up with new setup, i would rather have too much castings than not enough, i want to eliminate the grow store from the equation as much as possible, and not look back, im thankful theres people like you , coot, gas, mm, etc. that take the time to show people the light

 

[Rednick]

i want to eliminate the grow store from the equation as much as possible, and not look back,

Good you're starting now, becomes vital as things change.