Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Anyone seen this? Just started researching vermiculture but I'm failing to see why this is so special...

http://www.vermigrand.com/index_en.php?con=vermic3_2&news=news_en

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQEQ-gWLHJU

I haven't been very successful worm farming. I used regular earthworms and they would just dissapear or ants would infest. I always went cheap on it and I now have learned somewhat better. I may get one of the popular systems can o worms or worm factory and order composting worms. Also set the legs in mineral oil as TClynx had suggested in several places in the forum.

I got 2 of the can o worms. Use trays from both to make one larger worm farm. Then I use the second lid to cover the oldest tray and sit it on a gb to make sure all the worms have moved on.

I have the can o worms like Dufflight except I just got one. Over Summer I neglected feeding due to many other things happening, I thought they were a goner when I attended to them recently. To my surprise, there were still worms inside the containers, possibly not as much as if I did not neglect them. Once I started feeding them again, they started becoming more active.

One thing I read is that, the worm used for worm farming in this manner is different from the regular earthworms. Cannot remember exactly but I think regular earthworms tend to head for deeper into the ground but worms used for worm farming tends remain what the food source is. Recall something about it being tiger worms.

Yep me too the can o worms is the best, takes a while to get them going but once established no stopping them

i have reds (Eisenia andrei) and tigers (Eisenia foetida)

they do well here in winter while its cool
ive found bagasse is an excellent bedding
whether its a good food remains to be seen

i hope so beacuse its so very cheap

ive got a Reln worm farm
i dont like it
not enough airflow
but i like the trays its made of

ive taken to placing them on the ground and covering with hessian(burlap) sacks
that way the worms come and go as they please from below
and so far most stay
only retreating below in the heat

but what i REALLY need are
Blues (Perionyx excavatus)
and African night crawlers

please contact me if you have some to sell or trade
ill post a note in the trade n sell too

There are several different types of good composting worms that work well for vermiculture. Night crawlers are not the best worms for bins since they do usually like to have deep tunnels in the earth but they do sometimes take up residence in compost piles when the conditions are to their liking.

Anyway, for worm bins, ya do want composting worms. Some varieties are better than others but what variety is best for your situation may depend on the purpose of your worm bins. My worms are Eisendia Fetida and Lumbricus Rubellus. I've heard of both these species being called red wrigglers. The Fetida tend to be smaller worms and so might not be the best worms to use for fishing bait but they are reputed to be the best of all composting worms, being able to eat lots of scraps and produce lots of castings when conditions are good for them. The Lumbricus Rubellus are bigger which makes them better for bait but they are also very wiggly and difficult to hold to put on a hook. It is not a bad idea to use a variety of worms in a bin so if the conditions are not good for one type perhaps another type will survive better and give the bin a better chance for success. Some types of composting worms are more likely to escape the bins that others. I think the africans might be known for this escape tendency and people doing large professional operations keep bright lights shining down on their bins over night to try to keep those types of worms in the bins.

If there is something wrong in the worm bin, the worms will leave. Screens won't stop them, they can easily squeeze through screens if they need to. Keep the conditions in the bin to their liking and they will generally stick around all on their own. Not too dry not too wet. Not to hot and not too cold. Nice bedding and food but not too much and away you go. Definitely keep bins out of direct sun. Plastic bins will cook very quickly in the sun.

So so why are worm casting so special? Well they are really highly biologically active soil conditioners. Chocked full of good microbes to help improve soil. They also seem to be really good for helping to start seeds. I've found them to be a good additive to start of new AP systems when one can't get some gunk from an established system. Adding some composting worms to the grow beds is also a good way to help keep solids and old roots from clogging up the grow beds. The worms and microbes help break down solids into plant usable nutrients. Some people swear by worm casting tea for fighting off plant diseases and pests but I can't really say for myself since I've not usually bothered to try making it or spraying it.

TC, how do you keep your worms from overheating in FL? If I remember right, you have your bin in a shed, but is shade and moisture all you need to keep them from cooking?

Ever since watching Food, Inc. domestic resistance to worms has waned .

In a book on vermiculture ive been reading the author swears the there are no lumbricus rubellus in worm bins In Oz
and that 'reds' are in fact Eisenia andrei
i dont know what the situation is there

Thanks for the info on the night crawlers, id heard they can wander.
im happy if they do, and i want them working away in my mulched gardens but ill try and entice them home to the pile for some fresh horse manure!

I just got in my 5 tray worm farm composter. I hadn't order the worms yet. I was wondering if any of the members who had both BSF composters and worm farms had trouble with the BSF getting into the worm farm? Seems like it would be pretty difficult to keep them out.

I have a wrom bin similar to the can of worms, but its square. Last time I tried the worms did not eat the waste it just rotted, then it rained and I had the drain valve closed and they all drowned.

I do want to give worms a try again though. I have placed some bait worms and a few earth worms I find here and there into my growbed, but I dont know that they stayed there. So if I am going to order worms I need to get red wigglers?

If you ever wanted to remove the fish poop and feed it to the worms you could use something like this: http://steadfastequipment.com/

Then you would just add the casting to the growbeds?

I recall making a compost heap a few years back as a way to take some of the heat out of chicken manure and tiger worms somehow managed to colonize it naturally. (It amazed me that they did so in a very short time.)

At school my students have worked on the design of wheelie bin worm farm and the worms have worked well for about three years so far despite occasional neglect. In their design they have fitted an internal platform and a hose on the bottom which allows them to draw off the leachate.

At home I have simplified things even more and have just cut the bottoms off a couple of old wheelies, ( even ones with splits in the side) and cut some holes in the lids and added a handful of red composting worms and they seem to work just fine. A healthy population of composting worms is ongoing. They get all food scraps, weeds, corrugated cardboard, egg cartons, egg shells, even dog poop now and again and shredded paper. Occaisionally they get a little fresh cow manure which they love.

The resulting compost is light and fluffy and no bad smells.

I think I read somewhere that if red worms and tigers are put in the same bin they don't really compete but colonize different zones as they have different preferences regards depth and occupy a different niches within the compost bin which accelerates the composting process.

I started vermicomposting last about a year ago. Last summer I had a ton of BSFL in my bin. This year I see black soldier flies all over the garden, and had some larvae in my hot compost pile, but none in the bin which I'm keeping in the garage.

I have reds and ENC's European night crawlers. I keep a light on to keep them from leaving the bin. Mines just a home made 18 gal tote. Holes drilled in the bottom to drain, covered w/ screen and burlap. Sits inside another 18gal, and I have that in a larger 35 gallon filled w/ straw. I did that to keep them warm last winter, but it isn't hurting in the heat either.

Now that it's established they can get rid of a few pounds of food in just a few days. I don't bother harvesting castings, most people seperate the worms to harvest castings. I just put the castings worms and all in the garden. They seem to be doing quite nicely their.

I also have a hot compost pile and recently put finished compost in the garden as top dressing. It was loaded w/ worms.

So the BSFL and worms get along then... wonder if you could build a simple worm bin with a runway and catcher for the BSFL larvae.