Vermiculture (Worms) and Freezing Temps

[maddy]

I am very interested in growing worms for my garden, but alas I have no place to keep them indoors. So this year I want to take another stab at getting a colony of worms through the winter outdoors. In this region, winter temps tend to be mostly in the +20s, but they can and do dip to below zero for a week or two.

I've thought about some kind of dug pit, possibly insulated with straw bales. (The frost line here is 4 feet down.) Has anyone tried such a thing? What other ideas do you have for keeping worms outdoors in colder climates?

[mzgarden]

I will be watching because I too am interested in how to do this. Thanks for raising the question.

[raybait1]

I haven't talked to her in a while but my cousin was planning on using a gallon size glass pickle jar and an aquarium heater. Bury the jar filled with water and keep an eye on the water level. She lives in Greely Co. It sounded like a neat idea. Could cause a moisture problem if used long term.

[maddy]

Another possibility I've thought of is the "hot bed" concept. Dig a pit, fill with hot manure, cover that with straw, then worm bedding. What do you think?

[MOgal]

I'm in central MO and have wintered over worm bins in our unheated hoop house. The bins were 20 gallon capacity plastic containers that originally held cattle supplement. I didn't put any additional insulation around them but did keep a few pieces of cardboard on top with some potted plants on the cardboard. I didn't feed them over the winter as there was plenty when I put the bins in the hoop house. The worms seemed to congregate in the center towards the top. The temperatures in the hoop house drop to near nighttime lows but during the day can get into the 70's when the sun is out.

I think the jar of water with the aquarium heater buried in the bin is a clever idea and I'd be interested in hearing how it works, raybait1. Incidentally, hope your cousin is safe from all the flooding. I have a cousin in Ft. Morgan from whom I'm waiting a report.

Got sidetracked thinking about the flooding! The reason I mentioned the hoop house is that I was wondering if a cold frame of some sort might work too since the air temp would rise during the day and help keep the mass of bedding at a temperature that the worms could survive. Sorry to be so easily distracted. A cold frame would be much easier to construct than a hoop house, right?

[maddy]

The cold frame sounds like a promising idea, as does the aquarium heater, especially if it were combined with some sort of in-ground pit. In this area, the cold frame would be covered with snow for a good part of the winter. That would of course be added insulation, but it would prevent the greenhouse effect.

[retire2$]

You could get an old freezer or refrigerator (maybe free off craigslist) and put it in a sheltered place. Put your worms in plastic totes and put them in the outside freezer. Don't forget to put a pad lock on the door.

[MOgal]

Maddy, you didn't mention what part of the country you are in so I didn't have a clue as to your snow load. Before we got the hoop house, I used a cold frame for herbs and salad veggies. When we got a heavy snow, I pushed the snow off the cover to form higher sides and back around the frame to protect it from the wind then used plastic feed sacks filled with leaves on the lid followed by a sheet of clear plastic large enough to cover the frame but not the snow walls. On sunny days I removed the sacks.

Retire2$, we have two old chest freezers in the barn for feed storage and it's not often that temps reach freezing in them even on the coldest days. I kept a thermometer in them to check because we have been looking for a third freezer to use as a root cellar. We didn't mess with a padlock but did remove the latches since they stay closed by gravity. A chest freezer, we'd lock since it wouldn't stay closed otherwise. Incidentally, good luck finding an old freezer! I've been looking for over 2 years. I watch craiglist faithfully, have talked to appliance dealers, even posted my own request.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by maddy

I am very interested in growing worms for my garden, but alas I have no place to keep them indoors. So this year I want to take another stab at getting a colony of worms through the winter outdoors. In this region, winter temps tend to be mostly in the +20s, but they can and do dip to below zero for a week or two.

I've thought about some kind of dug pit, possibly insulated with straw bales. (The frost line here is 4 feet down.) Has anyone tried such a thing? What other ideas do you have for keeping worms outdoors in colder climates?

We have mild winters here---I keep mine in a old camper(inside walls removed) and run a small gas heater just enough to keep them from freezing. This camper is parked out in the open to absorb some heat from the Sun.

Before the camper I would feed them good/some fresh bedding just before the first freeze and I had a hole dug into the dirt(in a dry area)--I would set the containers in the hole with lids on them, cover with hay and put a top over the hole to keep rain from getting into it. Spring I would pull them out and they always seemed to have grown in number.

[dirtman]

I've been thinking about the same thing as well. What I do know is that here in Northwest Michigan we get a lot of snow and it usually comes before the ground freezes. There is seldom more than a few inches of frozen ground beneath the snow and with snow on top of a layer of leaves there is none at all. You can dig here all winter.

[TnAndy]

Built mine 4'x10'x24" next to the chicken coop. Used 4" block, with 1" foam board between the block. I don't put anything on top but the wood shavings/droppings out of the coop in the winter. Fine down to zero.

Clean out of coop goes in the worm bed, worms feed the chickens. Closed cycle.

[Shrek]

Outdoor worm populations either lay cocoons below the frost line and die off or migrate below the frost line to hibernate or winter in a more sedentary state as some species in colder regions have apparently exhibited .

For some reason when folks think of worm raising they tend to consider confinement farming as a natural environment when that is the furthest from the truth.

My outdoor raised beds receive no special attention however the worms migrate as required and thrive year to year same as the outdoor herds of a friend who grows red worms and night crawlers in Manitoba.

Of course we both keep artificial environment short term storage bin herds for ease of processing house hold wastes without alway having to tote a slop jar to the outdoor beds.

It is easier to just bring a bucket or two of worms indoors to restock the worms used for processing the house wastes as some die of bin heating, red mite increase or increased anaerobic decomposition and related increased toxin levels.

[homesteader824]

Originally Posted by Shrek

My outdoor raised beds receive no special attention however the worms migrate as required and thrive year to year

Do most of your worms migrate back after winter? I'm in the same position as the OP, no room indoors for worms so they would have to be outside.

[Shrek]

Originally Posted by homesteader824

Do most of your worms migrate back after winter? I'm in the same position as the OP, no room indoors for worms so they would have to be outside.

Through migration of those that hibernate and hatchlings from cocoons deposited before winter , my outdoor population maintains at around an estimated 2 million worms plus/minus a few hundred thousand depending on rain levels per acre based on calculations derived from core samples I dig to a depth of 6 feet and count worms from two or three times each year.

Every spring after surface temps rise I generally count 1500 to 3000 adult bandless bed run and breeders per each 4 x 16 foot garden bed I choose to do a worm count of to a depth of about 2 feet as I turn them for planting preparation.

[homesteader824]

Thanks Shrek, I may try this next year.

[maddy]

TnAndy, that's a very neat set-up. How cold does it get where you are? Did you dig down below ground level? I'm thinking that in really cold climates, you could take the same idea and simply take it down two or three feet, then fill the pit with loose compost that the worms could migrate down through easily if it gets too cold.

One other thing--Is that sawdust you're using for bedding?

[maddy]

Shrek-- You indicate that you're digging down 6 feet. Do you excavate and refill with something that's easy for the worms to migrate down through?

[TnAndy]

Originally Posted by maddy

TnAndy, that's a very neat set-up. How cold does it get where you are? Did you dig down below ground level? I'm thinking that in really cold climates, you could take the same idea and simply take it down two or three feet, then fill the pit with loose compost that the worms could migrate down through easily if it gets too cold.

One other thing--Is that sawdust you're using for bedding?

Normally, zero is about the lowest we see ( record since I've lived here was 22 below, but that was very rare to see that ), with a lot of winters only in the low teens.

I filled the pit with leaves first, then several tractor buckets of cow manure from the barn, then topped off with wood shavings/chicken litter out of the coop.

[maddy]

Thanks, Andy. I was wondering what kind of bedding you large-scale guys use. Can't imagine tearing newspaper strips for a million-plus worms, and peat moss receives mixed reviews. Some say it is too acidic.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by maddy

Thanks, Andy. I was wondering what kind of bedding you large-scale guys use. Can't imagine tearing newspaper strips for a million-plus worms, and peat moss receives mixed reviews. Some say it is too acidic.

I mainly use newspaper for my bedding, it only takes a few minutes to shred up enough for a new bed with one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/WORX-WG430-Ele...uct/B002MAPZYC