I thought it would be interesting to read another authors view on composting with worms so here is a link to an article by Leigh Barns. It is a brief review of worm composting.
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Worms: Nature’s Composting Machines; By Leigh Barns
Monday, February 7th, 2011Worm farming blog update; Giant European nightcrawler
Friday, February 4th, 2011
Greenhouse Nearly Finished
Well the greenhouse is dried in and almost complete. Just need end walls on it, but I don’t see much point in adding them until next winter since spring is just around the corner and they will not be needed when its warm.
Worm Bed Construction
Also I have got started on building the frame for a worm bed in it. It should be good to add worms to by the middle of next week.
The other day when shipping out worms I run across this giant worm.
I think I am going to call him wormzilla.
He weighs out at 6.5 grams! The average size is about 1.5 grams and the next largest worm I have seen to this one was about 2.2 grams, so he is a giant. Hopefully I can get him to reproduce some more giant worms, but I am unsure if this is a phenotype or a genotype (nature vs nurture) caused giant.
Wormzilla
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Can-O-Worms Composter System Review and Instructions
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
The Can-O-Worms composting system is a well made stack-able tray worm composter. It is made out of sturdy thick black plastic and all the pieces fit together well. It comes with a very complete and informative set of instructions. Can O Worms Instructions The lid is extremely tight fitting and worms are very unlikely to escape. The Base is well designed and includes a tap to drain off any excess liquids.
The manufacturer did a great job thinking the system out. They included everything you need to vermicompost with the Can-O-Worms except the worms. They send you knowledge, bedding, the bin and even thought to have the packaging double as a temporary cover for the tray holes on the first level.
As I have often stated, worms do not need a mansion to live in, however if you are serious about vermicomposting and want a high quality composter system for your worms to produce lots of high quality vermicompost, then this is the system for you.
Buy your Can-O-Worms composter here
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Hoop House Style Greenhouse Construction Basics; Building a Wiggler Worm Barn
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Hoop House
After trying a lot of different housing options for the worms, I decided that the best option in my case is to use hoop style greenhouse buildings. Hoop houses, as they are often called, are semi-circular buildings made from curved semi-circle rafters and are usually covered by clear poly-ethylene film. Not only are these buildings strong, but they are also inexpensive compared to other structures; furthermore, the hoop house can be covered in poly during the winter and then covered with shade cloth for summer use.
The main structural components of the building are the rafters, also called hoops. These can be made of wood, steel, or even pvc pipe. I recommend the use of steel pipe covered in a rust proof coating. EMT conduit is widely available and relatively inexpensive. It is used to route electrical wires in buildings and can be purchased at electrical supply houses and at many well known home improvement stores. The other main structural components are the purlins. Purlins run the length of the hoop house and tie the rafters together. They are commonly between 1 and 5 purlins in a hoop house, but I would recommend at least 3. Purlins not only add extra rigidity to the building, but can be used as anchors for lights, fans, sprinklers, or hanging plants and other items on. The size and spacing of the purlins and rafters is going to depend largely upon the size of the building and the expected snow load. Also if you do intend to hang plants or other items off of the purlins to make sure they are plenty strong for that as well.
An average rafter spacing for commercially available hoop greenhouse is about 6′. I personally believe this to be to far apart and like to space the rafters no further than 4′ apart. Although this may add a little cost to the building, but I can sleep sound at night during heavy snow and freezing rain knowing that my greenhouse is plenty strong.
The hoop house is anchored to the ground using ground post. The ground post are simply pipes that are driven into the ground that the rafters will attach to. EMT conduit may be used for these as well. In my location the pipes were driven about 3′ deep, but the required depth will depend upon your soil.
This covers the basics of hoop houses, but soon I will be posting the details of an actual hoop house construction that is sure to keep some wiggler worms happy. Also I am looking forward to having a place to grow plants in the winter and having a good building for researching potting soils made with worm castings.
Thanks for reading,
Matthew Wilson
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Are these red wriggler worms in my mailbox?
Sunday, January 9th, 2011So I received a phone call the other day and the voice on the other end says, “Hello, my name is [John Doe] and I received a box in the mail, which I wasn’t expecting, but even more surprisingly the box promised, ‘Live Worms Inside.’ Curiously I opened the box to see if this could possibly be true. Upon opening the box I found a white bag, which I now presume to wriggler worms, and an information sheet with your phone number. Upon seeing this phone number, I called you to ask, why have I this box of worms?”
So I answered him by asking for the order number and proceeded to look up the info. I explained to him that the order was paid for by Mr. So-and-so, but he did not remember the name I gave him, so I gave him the billing phone number. After that I he said, “OK thanks,” and that was the end of the conversation.
About a half-hour later he called back. He explained, “OK I remember the fellow who sent me the worms now, he was a friend of my sons and he had come over and ate supper here one evening and sent the worms as a thank you gift for the hospitality. He saw my compost pile and knew that I liked gardening and composting so he saw the worms for sale on the internet and had them sent to me.” Well the mysterious box of worms was now explained and the fellow used them in his compost pile.
Interestingly enough I have had this happen one other time when an individual bought some worms for his neighbor. So I guess if you are wanting to get someone a gift they will never forget, just get’ em some worms. It will make quite a stir.
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Harvesting and Shipping Live Composting Worms
Saturday, January 8th, 2011Shipping live worms is tricky business, especially when the temperatures are extreme, but with lots of experimentation, we have got it down to a science. Composting worms are hardy creatures and can take the rigors of harvesting and shipping well, but it is still important to keep them as stress free as possible. It is in many ways miraculous that this is possible at all. Over 1000 living worms in a box only 7x7x6 shipped across the country and arrive at your door in 2-3 days. Its amazingly convenient and the worms don’t seem to mind.
Worm Harvester
The shipping process begins several days before the actual shipping day. The first step is to remove the worms from the large beds that they were grown in through a process we call harvesting. The harvesting takes place a couple days before shipping, because we like to let the worms rest awhile after harvesting and before shipping. Harvesting begins using pitchforks and good old fashion muscle to deliver them into the harvester. The harvester turns and is covered in screen which lets the majority of the bedding fall through but not the worms. The worms are collected at the end of the harvester in a tray, roughly ten pounds of worms per tray. After all the worms that we estimate will be needed for shipping are harvested they are carried into the shipping room and allowed to rest. There is a fair amount of bedding left on the worms that the harvester does not remove, but this is not a problem and the extra bedding will be removed on shipping day. A couple days later the worms are placed under bright lights early in the morning and allowed to go to the bottom of the harvesting tray. The bedding and remaining castings are cleaned off the top of the worms until they are “Clean as spaghetti.” They are now moved to the bagging table where they are weighed, mixed with clean soilless bedding and then bagged into a breathable cloth bag. The bag is then ready to be boxed and shipped.
Red Wigglers Straight From The Worm Bed
A packing fill, specifically suited to the temperature, is added to the box and then the bag of worms is added on top. Then the invoice, and an information sheet are added, the box is taped and the shipping label attached. The words, “Live Worms” and optionally either, “Keep Cool” or “Protect from Freezing” may be written on the box. Due to regulations shipping worms to Hawaii is illegal, but we have shipped both european and red wiggler worms to Alaska and Puerto Rico without problems.
Fedex and UPS both allow the shipping of live worms by certified shippers only. I did go through the certification process and Worms Etc is certified by both carriers to ship live worms, but I have found that Priority Mail and Express Mail via the United States Postal Service to be the best and most reliable options. The reason I think the USPS has better luck shipping the live worms is the fact that USPS has post offices within every city in the country, whereas UPS and FedEx both have less warehouses and shipping hubs. This means that when shipping through USPS the worms spend less time in a carrier car which tend to be cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
It is extremely rare to have worms die in shipping, but in the rare case when it does happen we reship the worms. I have kept a log of every time a shipping problem arises and have each time changed something to lessen the chance of it happening again. This is why I think that I vary often get comments from my customers that my worms are far better than any others that they have ever ordered. Once I received a box of worms that where returned to me because of a bad address in California. Seems that they tried to deliver them several times before sending them back to me in South Carolina. It had been over 3 weeks since I mailed them. I opened the box and cut open the bag and dumped them into a container. They were all alive, not even one worm was dead. The peat moss that they were shipped in had partly been turned into castings, showing that the worms were even eating during shipping. Clearly shipping is not a problem for worms.
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Building greenhouses for red wiggler worms.
Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
First hoop is raised on newly graded soil
Hoop style greenhouses are an excellent investment for many gardeners and are easy to construct. I have started putting up a large hoop house to keep the red wiggler worms warm during the winter months. Also it will be covered with shade cloth during the summer and a misting system will be installed to keep them cool during our hot summer months here in South Carolina. The greenhouse will be 26′ X 48′.
In addition to housing the red worms, I am planning on using the overhead space to grow plants. The worms do not require the light and the plants can make use of it. Also the thermal mass of the plants (ie. heat holding ability) should keep the greenhouse temperatures stable. The plants will be grown using our very own potting mixes and will help to showcase the superiority of worm castings as a fertilizer over synthetic fertilizers. Our potting mixes will be available for sale starting in the spring 
In coming post I will show the basics in constructing a hoop house and why every gardener should have one.
Thanks for reading
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Merry Christmas from Worms Etc
Friday, December 24th, 2010Fair warning, this is a little strange, indeed sometimes I can be.
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a worm.
The worm inns were hung by the carport with care,
In hopes that compost soon would be there Continue reading “Merry Christmas from Worms Etc” »
Composting made simple using red worms. Indoors!
Thursday, December 16th, 2010Composting food scraps is easy and fun to do even in ones home. If you have an outdoor area to compost in then you can certainly compost a larger amount, but even if you live in an apartment you can still compost most of your food scraps.
Items such as newspaper, leaves, cardboard, dried straw, paper towels are considered to be bedding or browns. It is important to have enough of these in every compost pile. Because these items decompose slowly and they have extra carbon they keep the composting process under control and prevent smells. Also when using worms in the compost pile they provide the worms with an escape from the composting process. Worms will live in these materials and move in and out of them as they consume and compost the food scraps.
Most food scraps can be composted as long as they don’t contain dairy, meat, or to much oil or salt. Worms love vegetable scraps, egg shells, tea leaves and coffee grounds including the filters.
There are many good compost bins for sale. Some are more complicated then they need to be but any will work. The simple fact is that worms do not require a mansion to live in. I suggest that if you are on a budget (aren’t we all?) to get a plastic tote to keep your worms in. A simple sweater storage box available at most any store works great. Many other sites and people say to poke holes in the bin for air circulation and indeed this may help, but if your bin is not more than a foot or so deep that the hole are not even necessary. If you don’t place hole just simply leave the lid off. If a dim night light is kept on the worms at all times then they should not every try crawling out. A piece of cardboard placed over the top of the bedding in the bin will help keep the bedding moist and the worms happy.
For the first month or so the worms will not use much food. I believe this is because of two things, first the bedding will act as food for the worms and second the worms need a certain amount of living organisms in the bin in order to compost and digest the food. The bin will be lacking in these beneficial organism for a few weeks until the population is established. After a month or so the worms should be consuming their weight in food every week. They may consume up to twice that amount under some circumstances.
Collecting the castings to be used in the garden is easy. The red wiggler worms migrate towards the new food and up. This is of great benefit to us as it makes harvesting easy. In order to harvest casting and leave the majority of the worms behind, simply feed the worm to one side for a week or so and after the worms migrate to that side scoop the section up with the worms and set them to the side in a temporary container. After the worms are set aside, harvest about half of the castings and add new bedding and a little food. Now the castings are ready to be used in the garden and the worms can be placed back into the worm bin. Just add the worms and the material the were in on top of the newly added bedding and they will crawl down into the material and begin eating right away. The castings will likely contain a few worms and some worm eggs as well, but they should not be so many as to effect your bin to much and the extra space will promote the other worms to reproduce anyhow.
You can have a worm bin anywhere. They do not produce any offensive odors if cared for properly and can be placed anywhere a trash can goes. Composting with worms reduce the amount of garbage sent to a landfill, the castings help produce greener, healthier plants.
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Eisenia fetida, or hortensis? Whats the difference? Red wigglers or European nightcrawlers? Part 1
Friday, December 3rd, 2010Eisenia fetida commonly called the red wiggler worm versus Eisenia hortensis which is know as the european red worm or the night crawler. Both worms can be used as a composting worm but what are the differences and which one will work the best in a given scenario.
Ok, so the title of this post could use to be a little shorter, but the topic here is to discuss the two different worms and compare them to each other. The Eisenia fetida is the scientific name for the most common composting worm that is known best as the red wiggler worm. Often times it is called by other names such as; composting worm, red worm, manure worm, tiger worm, trout worm and they are other names as well. The second most common worm is Eisenia hortensis. It goes by a number of names as well and is even more confusing because of the fact that it is often called a nightcrawler when in fact it is not. It is a composting worm and does not live in the dirt as a nightcrawler would. With out going on a tangent here, it is important to note that composting worms do not live in dirt, they live in organic material. Here is a post on the living substrates of worms. E hortensis is commonly called European red worm, european nightcrawler, dutch worm, super worm, and confusingly enough it is commonly sold as a red wiggler. The problem with people selling E hortensis as red wigglers is, when someone buys the real red wiggler expecting to get what they had been sold as such but was actually E hortensis, they see the worms and they are much smaller then what they were used to.
Eisenia fetida makes an excellent composting worm for many reasons. It is a fast multiplier and can lay an egg capsule every week under good conditions. Each egg capsule can contain up to 5-6 worms but 3 or so is common. It takes about 90-120 days for the young worms to reach maturity after hatching. Hatching can take anywhere from 21 days to never. The eggs can go into a hibernation state and wait on proper conditions before hatching. This is very helpful to the worm farmer. If something should happen to a worm bin and a farmer was to loose many or all of his worms, it would only be a matter of time until the beds would be repopulated with more red worms. Not only is the red wiggler a fast multiplier but it also can tolerate a wide variety of conditions. This is important because some times worms bins can get very hot and then nearly freeze at other times. Also this worm can tolerate a wide pH. The pH in a worm bin can change a lot as organic matter decomposes. Further more they can tolerate a different moisture levels. I have seen E fetida in bins that were soaking wet and I have seen them in nearly dry bins. They seem to be fine in either although they do best in when the moisture levels are somewhere in the middle.
Eisenia fetida worms feed on the top of the bin and move up through the food. This helps make feeding the worms easy and allows for easy separation of worms and the castings. This can create problems though if feed gets mixed into the bedding the red wiggler will not eat it and the food may sour. Souring food in the worm bedding can lead to problems. This is why I always emphasis not mixing feed into the bedding. It is ok to bury food a couple inches deep under the bedding, just don’t mix or stir bedding if there is food in it.
Eisenia fetida likes to stay put and not to run out of the beds. Many other species of worms will leave your nice prepared and safe home that is well fed just to spite you. It is true that under some conditions even this mild mannered worm will crawl away, but usually there is something wrong which is causing this.
It is easy to see why the common red wiggler is so widely used and has become the number one composting worm. This in itself is an advantage for this worm, as much has been written about it and information is easy to find. However the european nightcrawler has some merit as a composting worm as well. In the next post I will describe the good and bad of Eisenia hortensis.
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