Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If there's yummy compost and vegetable trimmings in the trench, and cold boring dirt like what I have here outside the trench, there aren't too many worms that would leave.

I think worms like any moistened and partially-decayed organic matter. I would think a cuke vine would take a little longer to get yummy.

mrg, you get much quicker food breakdown with bsf. You could therefor support a higher fish population if you have the food inputs. (They are the only non disease carrying fly by the way.) As they are already in ur area they are worth a try i reckon.

They will self harvest up a 45 degree ramp into a bucket, neat. If you have a shady tree to place then under it will give the few adults that escape a place to mate. In winter just place a styrene foam tray over your heap to keep the heat in. This will reduce their waste conversion time in cold weather.

A few people here in Oz have done some pretty extensive bsf trials and they are a core part of their home produce feed regime.

Can't find me worm bible... must have lent it to someone I think.
But from memory mounds are better than trenches.
If you can get pig manure or bulk kitchen scraps these are good foods.
Buy a batch of red worms... they are usually a lot easier to breed than your local garden aussie blues or something.
Dang wish I had some stats or the book title to give ya as it's a good little one.
If you can breed enuf the worms are a good cash crop... transport in wet calico bags.
If I can find the title again I'll post it as was a really good little aussie handbook on worms

I know this has been mentioned before somewhere... but if you know a butcher get em' to get you some bone dust from the cutting saws they use... very-high protein...

This is where i have worked for the last 10 years

http://www.lakemac.com.au/page.aspx?pid=286&vid=14

we are all about waste education and demonstration. While our operation is on a comercial scale supplying worms, castings and compost to the community, our methods are simply and easily applied to the residential scale. We run workshops in all areas of environmental suatainabilty at the site.

do you breed commercially?

i'd love to but the missus wont be in on it......oh, you mean worm breeding, um ...yes. If its worms you want its worms i got.


would love to see some pics of your setup.

i put some pics of the garden "non ap gardens thread"...links anyone? have concidered putting some of the operation in "commercial systems" but thought it not ap enough.

As far as housing your worms, we have tried all manner of systems but keep them all in the "worm shed" away from the dam ibis now. I generally tell people that it is up to their imagination as to how the keep their worms. so long as you maintain afew requirements....cool, damp and reasonably drained. other things to consider are how to collect and best use the "worm tea".

Yesterday I pulled out a lot of cucumber vines and threw them in my compost... is that good worm food or does it actually have to be the vegi/fruit matter, not just the leaves/stalks?

we follow one general rule as to what worms will eat anything that was once alive, worms will eat it. This will contradic what many of you believe but in my experience there is no exception to this rule. The way it is prepared for the worms will determine their ability to quickly convert.

I hope i've helped.

great info, thanks Worms

Thanks worms.
I would love to see a commercial scale growing of duckweed on wastewater to be harvested to feed worm farms.
Could be a goer eh.
And bone saw dust is an ingenius one.
rokin

Yeah, apparently the the coarseness of the bone dust also aids in the digestion of organic material. The same way in which rock dust and egg shells help them... I used to mix up rock dust, egg shells and chook pellets and sprinkle that over the worms every week.

Pigs are omnivores, like us. They can carry many of the same parasites. I don't think vermicomposting pig poo would be a very good idea. It'd be safer to do thermophilic composting as with humanure.