Anyone raising worms? - Page 1

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone raising worms?

Posted: 5/15/2016 8:41:08 PM EDT

It's obvious how good worms are for the lawn and garden. I've been contemplating on trying to raise them. Has anyone done so? Their multiplication rate is just amazing to me.

Posted: 5/15/2016 11:03:40 PM EDT

[#1]

I was going to do this but I do have way too many projects going on.
I know one guy doing it but he is raising worms for fishing. I take it you want worms
for composting.

Posted: 5/16/2016 5:41:41 AM EDT

[#2]

Composting worms to me are often small scale. With a larger sizes garden and large lawn it would be very difficult to have enough castings to make a difference in soil quality (unless going to castings tea route). I'm referring to raising worms to then distribute them into the garden and lawn. For example, buy 1,000 worms then a few months later distribute their offspring into an area of the lawn or garden then repeat.

Posted: 5/16/2016 11:49:48 AM EDT

[#3]

Every month or so, I buy a tub of Red Wigglers and Night Crawlers from my local Wal-Mar. and "plant" them in my compost bin. They help the compost beak down, add the castings and then get spread out with the compost.

Posted: 5/19/2016 8:37:24 AM EDT

[#4]

We have a deep freezer that we are going to retire, it seems like an ideal make shift container for worms. I just don't see how they would survive winter unless I keep it indoors- perhaps the basement.

Posted: 5/19/2016 10:10:49 AM EDT

[#5]

I have a little raised bed I built to raise nightcrawlers. Built it out of an old pallet, filled it with peat moss. Every now and then I water it and throw some coffee grounds and grass in there. They seem to do fine, I'm sure you could replicate it on a larger scale if you wanted.

Posted: 5/20/2016 12:25:27 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:

We have a deep freezer that we are going to retire, it seems like an ideal make shift container for worms. I just don't see how they would survive winter unless I keep it indoors- perhaps the basement.

View Quote

I thought most people buried the deep freeze or bath tub in the ground to help the worms through the winter. Takes a lot more to freeze soil down a couple feet than it does to freeze a block of soil sitting up in the air.

Then again I don't know where you are at in PA, might get a lot colder than I think.

Posted: 5/21/2016 12:50:34 AM EDT

[#7]

I bought a worm tower and 1000 red wigglers from amazon, the wife wanted them for christmas, they do work well but with most of our compost going to either the chickens or the pigs the worms were forgotten, Also we couldnt keep the worm tower in the kitchen becuase of fruit flies so moving it to the basement also lead to them being forgotten, they do come back if you refeed them but for our current system the worm tower didnt work out. A worm tube in your garden beds that you drop compost into and let the worms bring it into the soil directly may work well.

Posted: 5/22/2016 6:17:24 AM EDT

[#8]

My take on worm "amendment"... if your soil conditions are right, they will come. If they are not right, they will leave. IMO you might be better off getting into a heavy mulch routine, which not only creates a cozy worm environment but also has other even more significant benefits. If the soil's not right, you can dump a million worms in there over time and they're just gonna go find someplace they like better. Probably to your neighbor's, who has a nice layer of cardboard covered with grass clippings suppressing weeds and moderating moisture levels in his garden.

Posted: 5/22/2016 8:31:16 AM EDT

[#9]

I've wanted to do worm composting for awhile but haven't started yet.

Posted: 6/15/2016 3:48:25 PM EDT

[#10]

i used to have a special worm bin that i fed and maintained. as the population grew, i would toss a handful under the rabbit hutches and in the compost, garden, etc. i have since taken down the worm bin because the worms are everywhere in my yard. 4 years ago i bought a quarter pound of red wigglers from ebay and that's what got it all started.

Posted: 6/15/2016 9:10:10 PM EDT

[#11]

I think you're right about the soil. For 7-8 years I've been trying to establish a worm bed at the ranch. I picked a spot at the edge of the woods...not full sun and not full shade.
I made it 2 railroad ties wide by 1 tie deep and stacked them 2 high. I've been putting bales of old wet straw that I've broken in there averaging about 6"-8" deep and putting our coffee grounds, potato peels, lettuce and the like on it. I've limed it and turned loose night-crawlers and all that I have to show for it are the same kind of small red worms that were there when I started. I really want a spot to dig fishing worms but it's not working.

Posted: 6/15/2016 9:26:51 PM EDT

[#12]

Could these worms be raised as feed for chickens, ducks, and geese? How would that work?

Posted: 6/15/2016 10:07:25 PM EDT

[#13]

Yeah they'll eat them but one chicken could eat a LOT of worms in a years time... probably be a better return to sell the worms to fishermen and use that money to buy chicken feed.

Posted: 6/17/2016 8:19:31 PM EDT

[#14]

Sheep manure is a good worm starter. Till about a ton into 25' X 25' area of your garden then lay a couple of old pieces of carpet or toe sack out there and the worms will come. Then once a month move the carpet squares a few feet and let the worms do the work. Then do that again on another 25 foot square the next year and plant last years square. Growing them in a deep freezer takes daily work you have to keep them feed and remove the bigger worms daily. I had a worm farm as a kid and got tired of it after a couple years and learned how to manage a spot for them.

Posted: 6/17/2016 9:08:07 PM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
Could these worms be raised as feed for chickens, ducks, and geese? How would that work?

View Quote

We have 40 to 100 rabbits. We shovel out the droppings twice a year. PLENTY of worms.

Actually give the chickens a shovel full a few times a week. Free protein!

Posted: 6/21/2016 12:43:26 AM EDT

[#16]

We have a 5 tray worm farm. It's low relatively maintenance, doesn't smell, and they eat everything but meat/citrus. If it were up to me, I'd buy Miracle Grow and call it good but my wife digs the worms so I'm stuck with them. If nothing else I get some mad green cred because most climate change alarmist couldn't maintain their habitat, so there's that.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone raising worms?

Outdoors » Homestead, Farm & Garden

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