worm bed article - Pond Boss Forum

I looked thru the archives and did a search. What issue has the building your own worm bed article? Client wanted to know the diy info and can not find it. Cody if I overlooked it in the magazine content for 2008 my wife is right I can't find anything.

Greg, I believe that was in the jan-feb. 2009 issue.

dang your right. My mind is slipping. I went thru and read cody's index for all of 2007 and 2008. No idea it was this year. Looking at it now on page 44. Thanks. We never got aroudn to doi ng one I might just do one this weekend.

Greg,

There is a lot of additional information if you go to my original thread:

I'm Not a Redworm Murderer!

Ken

A friend of my parents orders Omaha Steaks and they have a few of the larger sized styrofoam coolers that the steaks are shipped in. Do you think those coolers would work for a worm bin? I'm concerned about the worms freezing in the winter here in N. Indiana since I don't have a basement nor a garage. I do have a couple of outbuildings, but they are from 50 to over 100 Yrs old and the walls aren't 100% air tight if you now what I mean!

Originally Posted By: esshup

A friend of my parents orders Omaha Steaks and they have a few of the larger sized styrofoam coolers that the steaks are shipped in. Do you think those coolers would work for a worm bin?

They should work great. Just poke a few holes in the side and bottom for drainage and air. You may have to find a way to hold the cover on to keep critters out, and to keep the wind from blowing it off -- maybe just a brick.

I'm still not sure what happens to my worms over the winter. My bin freezes rock solid for most of January and February. By mid-March, or within a few weeks of thawing, it is full of fat worms.

Good luck,
Ken

Ken:

Thanks. The lids have a lip that fits into a groove that is in the bottom part, and they are pretty difficult to remove with just one hand. The brick idea would work just great. It will get up to 100*F here in the summer, and below 0*F in the winter. I'll start one this week and see how it works.

If I were to put the bins in an old chest type freezer that is in one of the outbuildings for the winter, and throw say a 40 watt lightbulb in there to help keep the temps a bit warmer, would I need to add any food during the winter? I'm thinking about the coldest part of the winter, late Dec thru Feb.

Just about any kind of container will work and an old ice chest is about perfect.

An old chest freezer will also work but sounds like a lot of dirt hauling. I wouldn't worry about trying to keep them warm. They should do just fine.

Select worms that are native to your area. For example, night crawlers don't live in my area. So redworms are the worm of choice. They're fairly bullet proof. Keep the dirt moist but not soaking wet. I mix the topsoil with about 20% peat moss for it's water retaining qualities. I looked at buying a couple of bags of topsoil for one that my daughter wants to do. However, they all seem to be loaded with weed killers, insecticides and/or fertilizer.

Actually worm raising is fairly stupid proof unless you overload with food, let ants get into it and build a nest or let chickens eat all the worms(Ken). Get the food, something like corn meal, deep enough that flies don't lay eggs in it. A worm bed full of maggots is a start over deal for me. Yeah, I've done that.

Originally Posted By: Dave Davidson1

Just about any kind of container will work and an old ice chest is about perfect.

An old chest freezer will also work but sounds like a lot of dirt hauling. I wouldn't worry about trying to keep them warm. They should do just fine.

Select worms that are native to your area. For example, night crawlers don't live in my area. So redworms are the worm of choice. They're fairly bullet proof. Keep the dirt moist but not soaking wet. I mix the topsoil with about 20% peat moss for it's water retaining qualities. I looked at buying a couple of bags of topsoil for one that my daughter wants to do. However, they all seem to be loaded with weed killers, insecticides and/or fertilizer.

Actually worm raising is fairly stupid proof unless you overload with food, let ants get into it and build a nest or let chickens eat all the worms(Ken). Get the food, something like corn meal, deep enough that flies don't lay eggs in it. A worm bed full of maggots is a start over deal for me. Yeah, I've done that.

My son started his own worm bin after reading this article and we have redworms going in a bin very similar to the one in the article. We've been adding whatever kitchen scraps we come up with. We soaked the soil and newspaper bedding initially and haven't had to do it again as it stays pretty moist on its own. The bin is starting to attract small flies and some of the scraps are molding. There doesn't seem to be a lot of worms when I pitchfork some soil up. Only one here and there. We just started this a couple weeks ago though so it might just need to get going.

Originally Posted By: Omaha

My son started his own worm bin after reading this article and we have redworms going in a bin very similar to the one in the article. We've been adding whatever kitchen scraps we come up with. We soaked the soil and newspaper bedding initially and haven't had to do it again as it stays pretty moist on its own. The bin is starting to attract small flies and some of the scraps are molding. There doesn't seem to be a lot of worms when I pitchfork some soil up. Only one here and there. We just started this a couple weeks ago though so it might just need to get going.

Omaha,

Not to worry. Each adult worm will lay about one cocoon a week, and each cocoon will hatch into several tiny worms in about three weeks. The cocoons look like tiny grapes, they are the color of a mustard seed, the size of a peppercorn. The newborn worms look like tiny white threads. It take these tiny worms about 10 weeks to become sexually mature -- but they still won't be real big.

I've started new bins as late as May, and by August I've got an adequate supply of worms. By October I'm loaded with worms. If you don't let the chickens into the bin, they will keep going for years.

Turning the material in the bin should help with the undesired critters.

Good luck,
Ken

Originally Posted By: catmandoo

Originally Posted By: Omaha

My son started his own worm bin after reading this article and we have redworms going in a bin very similar to the one in the article. We've been adding whatever kitchen scraps we come up with. We soaked the soil and newspaper bedding initially and haven't had to do it again as it stays pretty moist on its own. The bin is starting to attract small flies and some of the scraps are molding. There doesn't seem to be a lot of worms when I pitchfork some soil up. Only one here and there. We just started this a couple weeks ago though so it might just need to get going.

Omaha,

Not to worry. Each adult worm will lay about one cocoon a week, and each cocoon will hatch into several tiny worms in about three weeks. The cocoons look like tiny grapes, they are the color of a mustard seed, the size of a peppercorn. The newborn worms look like tiny white threads. It take these tiny worms about 10 weeks to become sexually mature -- but they still won't be real big.

I've started new bins as late as May, and by August I've got an adequate supply of worms. By October I'm loaded with worms. If you don't let the chickens into the bin, they will keep going for years.

Turning the material in the bin should help with the undesired critters.

Good luck,
Ken

I haven't noticed any cocoons yet, but maybe I didn't know what I was looking for. I turn the material every couple of days so that should be good right? Guess we'll just be patient then.