Worm Farming

[Spinner]

Does anybody do it? DH called me today to tell me he wants to start worm farming. I thought he was nuts! I did some research on it and found that there really is such a thing. It sounds like it would be a nice way to farm. No worries about the worms jumping the fence, or getting into the garden to eat up the produce. They eat scrapes so no expense of laying in a supply of feed for them. I think I could enjoy being a worm farmer...

[mousebandit]

We're not going to forsake all the 4-legged critters, but as soon as spring really gets here, we're going into the wormin' business! Make some compost, sell some wrigglers, sounds good to us, too!

Tracey Mouse

[kuriakos]

There's an article in the current issue of Farm Show about a woman who has a worm farm...her worms produce three tons of castings per week, which retail for $12.95 or more for a 20-liter bag. Her website is http://www.wowcastings.com

[annie716]

The last time I was in the meat rabbit business about 15 yrs ago a lot of rabbit farmers were trying the red worm beds under the cages to work the manure & produce more worms. We got half a feed bag of worms & dirt from a fellow breeder. I made raised beds out of some 6 or 8 inch hardwood boards that were laying around, I think they were about 3 feet wide and whatever the length of the boards. I filled these with rabbit manure and dumped the worms on top, we also had a years worth of manure piled nearby. I really didn't do much else, threw some scraps or new manure in as the beads settled. When we wanted worms we turned some dirt over and there they were.
I didn't end up getting into the worm or dirt selling end but did donate 50 or more dozen a year to the youth bass fishing tournament held on our lake and was able to pick them in a very short time. Because I didn't feed or tend the beds much some numbers of the worms migrated to the manure pile when they got hungry. In a remarkably short time we had the most beautiful black dirt (worm castings?) you've ever seen. We had a firend that owned a bait shop but the fishermen in our area are stuck on the big fat nightcrawlers and the red worms are more active but much smaller. I can tell you a good feed though at least it worked this year on nightcrawlers! Our soil is mostly clay, last year we had so much rain we couldn't get our potatoes dug until Oct or Nov. The garden was stil so wet that we could hardly find them as we dug up forks full of mud, most of the potatoes were rotten and I have never in life seen so many or such big night crawlers. I swear they were the diameter of garter snakes. They were feeding like mad on the rotten potatoes!

[countrygurl]

hello,

we use to raise rabbits ( 200 breeding doe s, and raise red worms. we had seperate worm beds and would use the rabbit manure ( be care about iwith other types of manure because it would heat up as it decomposite. along with the rabbits manure & non meat table scraps newpaper works well. if you have any contacts with a business that shread their paper the worms realy enjoy it and it is a easy way to draw them to the top of the beds. you have to keep the worm beds moist with water. you may have to cover the beds to keep critters from having a free dinner. place your beds in shaddy areas.
if any one has questions i will be glad to answer.

[Big Dave]

I raise worms. It is called vericomposting. I got them in the house. There is a book called Worms Eat My Garbage that is quite helpful. There are all kinds of worm bins on the market. Commercally it is quite the enterpize. 1 lb of worms will eat that much veggie scraps in a 24 hr period. 1lb = about 2000 or is it 20,000 worms I dont recall right now. Try this www.whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.html
I put all my veggie scraps in here. I started with the worms I bought at walmart for this one.Several years back I bought a lb of worms from a man in Texas. I put them in the refrigerator for the night as I was not prepared. The next morning I had a stampeed. Worms do not like the vibation of the compressor. I put them outside in another refigerator that was laying on its back and had a lot of newspaper in it. It rained heavy that night and filled the thing up with water. I have seen a guy raise them in cattle troughs to sell to land fills. He also sold the castings. I hope you are blessed in what you are doing.

[brickbat]

My grandpa raised worms he shipped worms all over the US ,he kept local bait shops supplied and sold them by the pound .He had about 20 beds and a worm separater he would put a tarp down on the ground the dirt would sift out and just the worms would come out of the back end in a box.

[tamatik]

Brickbat..I,d be interested in knowing more about the worm separater.Any pix? or commentary on how it was done?
Thanx

[holleegee]

The show "Dirty Jobs" showed a worm farm with a worm separator. I think it is on the learning channel or discovery channel.

[Ann Mary]

I want to pass on just one thought of advice....if you have any chickens that are free-range------keep them away from the worm bins! My chickens stayed up nights thinking of new ways to try to get at mine! The thought of all those red wigglers was more than they could handle! Do be sure you get red wigglers...not night crawlers. There are different markets for each. Now I have one of those 3-layer worm bins in the baement and I really like it for small-scale worm raising.

[A'sta at Hofstead]

Could we do this in the upper level of our barn or do you do it outside?
Can it be done in freezing temps?

[DenverGirlie]

Originally Posted by Hill Crest Farm

Could we do this in the upper level of our barn or do you do it outside?
Can it be done in freezing temps?

So long as the worms dont' freeze they will be okay. However, they slow down and huddle together to keep warm.

We have two bins, homemade version for castings and composting, personal use only, but watched the "dirty jobs" episode on discovery channel, and understand how they make it work, their worm separtor was really neat. Filtered out worms from casting from worm eggs, was nifty.

[sorcerer]

I've tried vermicomposting too, the first time was in the house last winter - I thought I could get rid of all my veggie scraps without having to go outside to the compost pile! It worked great except for one problem - FRUIT FLIES! The worms did a fantastic job of eating the scraps (I put all my veggy scraps through a food processer so they didn't have to break down big pieces!) but I found the fly's a big problem. I finally had to put them outside. Last summer I kept a small worm compost going and this year I plan to expand it a lot. The castings from it are fantastic.

Those of you who keep your worms inside - how do you deal with the fruit flies? Could I avoid them by just using vegitables and no fruit? In my outdoor bin the worms went through pounds of windfall pears and apples but maybe indoors we should just stick to carrots and celery??

Karin

[bluefish]

I've wanted to do worms for years now, but we live in a tiny house and I can't figure out where to put them. We live in Wyoming so it's a bit cold in the winter. However, I had a thought I wanted to toss out there. We have an old chest freezer that died this past winter. Would it work to set it in the ground or insulate it with straw bales and have worms in there? I know it would be cold in the winter but I don't think it's freeze. For drainage, would a layer of gravel in the bottom work? What do you all think?
Also, is this hijacking? If so, I'm very sorry and feel free to delete the post.

Kathryne

[RachAnn in NW Okla]

Shrek did worm farming....didnt see him chiming in up there

we had a man with a worm farm here locally....his son went to the school where I teach......the drought coupled with the wind did him in so they moved to Georgia where he could make some real money....

http://www.wildwestwormfarm.com/ is his website.....I met this man personally and interacted with his son almost daily at work....this is his legit business!!

Rachel

[tn_junk]

My grandfather did it for many years (in North Florida). It's lots of work, manual labor, keeping the beds dug and harvesting the worms. Got to keep the temps right, not too cold or too hot. Not too wet or too dry. Got to keep all the critters out that eat worms. Most of all, got to have a great sales network. Can't make money if you can't sell them. He made a lot of money off of them, but if you look at it on a hourly rate, probably do better at McD's.

galump

[Spinner]

I had no idea that worm farming was so popular. I guess DH isn't nuts after all. LOL

Originally Posted by Big Dave

1 lb of worms will eat that much veggie scraps in a 24 hr period.

A lb. of veggie scraps is a lot of feeding! I was under the impression that they did fairly well on their own, didn't realize that they had to be fed so much or so often. It sounds like it might be a lot of work and could get expensive to raise them.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by Spinner

I had no idea that worm farming was so popular. I guess DH isn't nuts after all. LOL

A lb. of veggie scraps is a lot of feeding! I was under the impression that they did fairly well on their own, didn't realize that they had to be fed so much or so often. It sounds like it might be a lot of work and could get expensive to raise them.

If you get into it "BIG" Time---Yea it takes some time to keep up with it. I been raising worms about 10 years---Small scale---Mine are in something about the size of a no.3 washtub. I raise just enough to fish with. My X GF bought a pack from the tackle shop(about 25 worms) and raised them right under her kitchen sink in a shoe box size container--she raised enough for her to go fishing(she didn't fish alot--LOL). I have seen pictures of where they were into raising worms HEAVY---used a tractor with frontend loader to move them/castings around. Get into it---just start small---as they produce you can "grow" with them if you want---its not as much work as you are thinking-----You will enjoy saving food for them and feeding them. Have fun!! Randy

[Big Dave]

You have fruit flies??? Are you buring your scrapes or leaving them on top for the worms to take care of? When I do this I GENTLY bury my scrapes at different places in the bin. It lets the worms move around and I put a piece of corrigated cardboard over the top. That keeps it from drying out fast and it may help with the flies, I am not sure. Go to the cheap worm bin site mentioned in my above post. It gives pictures and how tos.

[ET1 SS]

Big Dave -

That is a great site. It's URL does not have the 'L' at the end though, could you adjust your link?

I have a question, they say to drill holes in the bottom of both bins, and then after filling both bins they stack them, one inside the other. One top is inverted and placed underneath both bins, the second top is fitted on the upper most bin.

They discuss drilling the holes, and how to fill each bin. But then they really do not say much about stacking them in this manner. Could you?