A worm farm is good for the planet. A worm farm at a zoo or natural history museum can show exactly how nature composts normally. Kids would love the chance to touch the worms. A worm farm is ideal for show and tell at school. If you belong to a garden club, a worm farm could produce a great compost that you can use on your plants.

Birds love worms and bird owners could start their own worm farm to provide food for their pets. Fish and reptiles like worms and their owners may like to start a worm farm. In your own home, a worm farm is a terrific way to show kids how to compost their foods scraps, teach the children responsibility and show them how the fertilizer is good for plants.

Clean Air Distributing 2552 1-Gallon Stainless Steel Counter Top Compost Pail $24.49 This fluted stainless pail holds up to a gallon of kitchen scraps and looks great on the counter top....

300 Red Wigglers - Red Worms are Great for Organic Gardening and Composting $12.90 The best worms for composting are red worms. Redworms will aggressively feed and reproduce in typical compost and garden conditions, leaving their castings as food for your plants! For compost bins: Add 600 of red worms to your bin, and feed regularly. Red worms love cardboard and paper. A layer of moistened cardboard or newspaper on top of your compost will bring the worms to the feeding areas w...

Worm Factory Composter Extra Trays (Black) Set of 2 $17.90 Set of 2 Additional Trays for use with te Worm Factory® Composters. Black. Expandable up to 7 trays....

Worm farms are a good way to support the economy by buying and selling. They furnish a useful service by increasing the health of soil, they provide a useful product, and they encourage equipment sales. They provide an extra income to the seller as well as jobs for any workers needed on the bigger farms.

Worms

Catfish love to eat worms, so a catfish farmer would reap the rewards of a worm farm. The worms are a natural bait and are better for the environment than artificial lures that could be left behind by fisherman.

Developing a worm farm along with a chicken ranch would keep your costs for food down..

Now, how many businesses really can reap the rewards of a worm farm? Everybody is able to in someway. Without worms our plants, fruits and veggies would not have good soil in which to grow. Whoever has used a compost pile knows how their plants react to this great fertilizer.

It might be fun to mention worm farming at a get together and see the response of people. You might be surprised at the number of people who respond in one way or the other with this all-natural activity.

Even though you do not like to touch worms you can come to appreciate the dedication of the little worms as they eat away at your kitchen or garden scraps. Most worms are helpful to nature. For those who aren’t squeamish, worms can even be an exotic treat. Remember when we were kids there was always someone who was happy to eat a worm.

There are 3 important factors to consider when setting up your worm farm. To begin you will want a bin that will safely hold all the worms. Next, proper bedding or compost, for the worms to live in and feed upon. Finally, the essential part of a worm farm is the worms themselves. This information will provide the guidelines you need to find the worms for your worm farm.

Do not dig worms from your yard and put them in your worm bin-these are not the correct worms to use. There are several kinds of worms that you can buy which are ideal for worm farming. There are worms that can be used as bait and also worms for composting.

The size of the worm farm that you will need is determined by how much you will be composting. One pound of worms usually will contain about 1000 worms which is the right number for a small worm farm.

You can try looking for worms in bait and tackle shops. Make sure that you select a worm that can be used as live bait and also for composting. For composting the very best worm is the Red Wiggler Worm.

4 Tray Green Gusanito Wormswrangler Worm Farm Bin Free Garden Claw $99.95 4 Tray Gusanito WormsWrangler worm farm bin Works indoors or outside. Only needs mild protections during temperature extremes. We are professional worm growers to help you succeed....

Gusanito Worm Farm Bin Composter 3 Tray Black Worm Composter $99.95 Starve the Landfill SAVE the Earth GROW WORMS. Store your fishing worms too!! Worm do miraculous things to convert kitchen waste into nutrient-rich compost for your garden. The Gusanito Worm Composter design allows the natural upward migration of composting worms. Easy to handle stack able trays. NEW ventilated roof design. Our own patent pending design based on our many years of worm farming expe...

Uncle Jim's Worm Farm 1,000 Count Red Wiggler Live Composting Worms $19.95 The Red Worm is the KING of all worms when it comes to composting. Whether you're buying live red worms for your own home vermicomposting or starting up your own vermiculture worm farm, these are touted as the very best composting worms available. We ship US Postal Priority Mail on Mondays and Tuesday. Orders received by the prior Saturday will go out then. Worms grow to approximately 3" in length...

Go online to find dealers who specialize in worms for worm farming. You will find places to buy worms such as Red Wigglers, Florida Wigglers, Night Crawler, other exotic worms and also egg capsules. There really are many options online.

These online companies have packaging that allow the worms to be shipped safely. Care has to be taken when collecting and packaging the specimens. There really shouldn’t be any difficulties with shipping the worms, but be sure you shop around and check out the shipping options. Ask what delivery methods are available and the rate of success for the worm survival is.

You may be able to find other items for worm farming in these stores, too. Many centers have employees who can help to answer your worm farming questions. Some centers will allow you to place an order for worms they don’t normally carry in stock.

Be sure to check with other local worm farmers. They may have excess worms and would be willing to sell them to you.

Check the phone book for a listing under “worm” or “worm farms”. Most worm farmers are happy to share tips and ideas with you.

It is interesting to have a worm farm. Choosing the correct worms is the key to having a successful worm farm. Over time you will become the expert about worm farming and will be able to share your knowledge with other people.

Worm farming, unlike outdoor composting, does not require much space or work.  The worm bin can easily be kept in a garage, basement or kitchen.  The worm bin needs to be stored in a dark place that is between 50°-80°F,  and  ideally, 72°-75°F.

Worm Farm Composting Bin

The next step is to shred newspaper (black and white print only) and fill the worm bin about half way.  Dampen the paper and squeeze out any excess water.  Add a handful of dirt, a few kitchen scraps, the red wiggler worms (start with a ½ to 1 pound of red wigglers) and cover with another layer of moist shredded newspaper.  Don’t use earthworms!  The red wigglers are your best worms for composting household scraps.  You have just completed your worm farm.

To maintain your worm farm feed the worms every few days.  Foods that are not the worms’ favorites and should not be given to them are:  citrus, spicy foods, meats and dairy products. By eliminating these foods the worms will be content and will not try to escape the bin.  The worm bin should have an earthy smell to it.  If there are bad odors emanating from the worm composting bin you may be overfeeding the red wigglers or feeding them unsuitable foods, like meat and dairy which will rot in the bin.

It’s time now to sit back and let the worms do the work.  The worm castings will be available in a few months to be used for your plants, gardens and lawns. Then start the whole process over again.  Worm farming is not only an interesting project, it is a fun project that the whole family can enjoy.

Worm Factory 360

One of the best worm bins is The Worm Factory 360. This worm bin is a 4-tray style and is expandable. It comes in green or black and can be used anywhere. It can be kept in the kitchen, basement or any other place that is convenient to recycle household waste. The worm farm can also be kept outside because it is weatherproof. The Worm Factory 360 comes with a DVD instructional guide and an accessory kit with the basic tools needed to take care of the worm farm.

Red Wiggler Composting Worms

Include a pack of Red Wiggler Composting Worms in your gift. Red wigglers are the worms that are best suited to recycle waste in the worm bins. The worms can be purchased in 1, 2 and 5 pound packs. A one lb. pack would be sufficient to get started with worm composting.

Worms Eat My Garbage

Enclose a copy of the book “Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System” in your Christmas gift. This guide tells you exactly how to recycle your food waste and turn it into a nutrient-rich food for your plants and garden. The book has everything in it that you need to know about worm farm composting.

The Worm Factory 360 and a pound of Red Wiggler Composting Worms will be the perfect vermicomposting gift for that “hard-to-buy-for” person this Christmas. This unique present will no doubt be talked about for many Christmases to come.

Radio advertising, newspaper or magazine advertisements are all pretty expensive. Simply because of the cost you may not be able to advertise on a regular basis. Start-up costs can be demanding in any business.

You should have signage that is large enough to read, brightly colored and carefully located so that it will be spotted by people driving by. A sign that is professionally done will attract the interest of more people. Think about it from the consumer point of view. Surely a large, colorful sign would draw more attention than a small black and white sign. The advertisement for your worm farm should be inviting to visitors.

A Handful Of Red Wiggler Worms

You could consider holding a demonstration about the benefits of your worm farm at the local library. Many libraries hold special sessions for the kids during the summer. These children have parents and grandparents who garden and fish and own reptiles or birds who might need worms. Be sure to hand out color pages or bookmarks or something similar with a small bit of information for your business, including your phone number.

You can purchase a magnetic sign that can be placed on your car or truck which would advertise your worm farm. There are thrift newspapers that have lower cost advertising. There may be local flea markets or farmer’s markets where you can set up a booth.

Make sure you check out your tax laws and your business license requirements for your area. Even if you have your worm farm at your house, you may be required to get a permit to sell your worms or the things you are able to produce because of your worms (like the tea, compost, fertilizers, etc.).

With some creative thinking you will be able to come up with many ideas that will make advertising your worm farm fun and yield profitable results.

Worms may be sold to fisherman or people who want to compost. Specific breeds of worms are carefully bred and are normally kept in breed specific quarters. Many of the worms that are raised in worm farms are used in composting.

Landfills and garbage dumps utilize worms which were raised by worm farmers.

Certain worms may also be used to fertilize the soil. As worms dig through the ground, they aerate and stir up the soil carrying water along. The “worm poop” that is created is high in nutrients and fertilizes the soil. A wholesome soil is then produced for better growing plants, vegetables and crops.

In recent years, the supply of worm farming equipment and accessories makes it simpler for individuals to make a hobby of this technique. Household sized bins are on the market in a variety of shapes and sizes. Home owners and apartment dwellers are given the chance to raise their own worms for waste compost and soil fertilization.

A Red Wiggler Worm

All that you will need to feed the worms in your worm farms are the fruit and vegetable scraps you would ordinarily throw into the garbage. You can also feed the worms newspaper, egg shells and hair. The waste product that the worms leave behind is called worm compost or vermicast.

Worms are also farmed for bait. Worm farmers supply many bait and tackle shops with all the worms that fisherman can use as bait.

Make sure you choose the species of worm that is best suited for the job. Some worms crawl close to the surface, others dig down into the soil. Red wiggler worms are generally used for composting while the Belgian worms are great for both composting and bait. Home owners looking for worms to keep in lawns and flower beds may find success with Night Crawlers and Wigglers.

Worm farming can certainly be an excellent educational tool. Because a worm bin doesn’t take up much space a small worm bin could easily fit in a classroom. A worm farm provides a practical experience for the kids to learn about composting. Using natural methods for composting and reducing waste in landfills is easily demonstrated by classroom worm farms.

Worms can be farmed practically anywhere. With the various systems available on the market today, home owners can raise their own supply of worms outdoors or in an apartment. The variables that must be controlled in a worm farm are the temperature, moisture, light, bedding and the type and quantity of food. In return, the reward will be a natural way of composting without filling up local landfills.

Worm Factory 360

Click to get more information about the Worm Factory 360

Red Wiggler Composting Worms

Go to Red Wiggler Composting Worms to find out more.

Were you aware that an earthworm can lay nearly 900 eggs each year? That’s a lot of eggs! Their gastrointestinal tract helps neutralize acidic soil or soil with a high alkaline level. Gardener’s really like the soil that worms produce. Other animals eat worms-nice diet huh? A natural food that is safe and healthy. So, how could you go wrong with a good worm farm?

An interesting and strange thing to know about worm farming is that long ago Cleopatra declared earthworms to be sacred, gods of fertility. A little old earthworm was protected and cherished, death to the person who caused harm to the earthworm. Of course in the United States today the earthworm doesn’t get that form of respect. Most of the time the worm is used as bait, thought to be “icky” or simply forgotten about. Some other cultures use it for food, which could be considered sacred to a starving person!

Red Wigglers

In the United States worm farming isn’t done to produce human food, however they are raised for other reasons. Those worms in the bait shop or in the pet store need to come from somewhere. Now you know where they came from. All businesses have risks associated with them, worm farming is no exception. There is some work involved in building a productive worm farm.

Feeding your worms doesn’t cost much for a small worm farm. Worms will eat fruits and vegetables, newspapers, grass clippings and leaves. Just make sure that anything you feed them has no residues of any sort of poisons.

The easiest worm farm is a container with some dirt, air holes, newspaper bedding and some food scraps. A larger worm farm needs a method to separate the worms from the castings after the worms have done their thing. The liquid that is produced can be diluted and used to water your plants. Try starting a small worm farm to see if it is something that is of interest to you before you try to become a mega worm farmer.

Worm farms on a large scale exist as follows: Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico-1 each. Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, and the United Kingdom-2 each. Pennsylvania, Texas-3 each. Canada and Washington-4 each. California-15. There are many more smaller worm farms that are not listed in the major directories. All over the world there are people with small worm farms in their yard.

Any business, including worm farming, will take from 3 to 5 years to break-even after their initial investment and maintenance costs. Proper planning is the key to starting a worm farming business. Careful consideration means a better chance of netting profits sooner.

What do you know about breed stock? You can find good breed stock in a city gardener’s basement supply just as well as you can from any established breeder with the same type of worm. It isn’t unusual for someone to try to sell breed stock at an inflated price in any animal business. The population can take as long as 90 days to double no matter where you buy your breed stock.

How many worms you should start with depends on several things. What is your budget? Will you have a large or small worm farm? Do you have enough space or will you need to expand? Will this be your primary souce of income or just a side business? Do you live in an area with seasonal temperature changes and will you be able to keep the worm farm at a fairly consistent temperature? Are you going to ship worms all over the country or are you just going to sell locally?

Other useful ideas:

1. Weather changes will affect the worms. Finding them in the lid of your worm bin before it rains is no reason to panic.

2. Ants will be more likely to enter your worm bins if the bedding is dry or highly acidic. Raise the moisture content or keep the legs of your stand in a container of water. You could try applying petroleum jelly around the legs or adding some garden lime near the ant gathering spot.

3. Cover your fresh worm food with the soil in the bed or place a layer of wet newspaper over it to get rid of vinegar flies. Don’t overfeed the worms because that can attract flies and other insects if there is extra food for them.

4. If the worm bin smells you are either feeding them too much or you are feeding them food which is rotting before they can eat it. Stir the waste lightly to allow air flow and space for the worms to travel more easily and feed less. Over time you will get an idea of the amount of food the worms can digest. The amount will change as the worms multiply.

Knowing this information should help you to become an excellent worm farmer!

It’s true that there are worms that do damage to crops, animals, and people. Worms in your intestinal system are best flushed out. That’s why dogs and cats, even horses and cows receive worm treatments. These worms are taking away nutritional values the animals need to survive.

Worms

What about the good worms? The first reaction to a worm is, “Ewww, gross.” Well, understanding anything is the key to appreciating it more. The good worms are not poisonous and have positive benefits that are not readily seen. They’re hard-working little creatures and deserve our respect.

So, what are good worms? Earthworms, compost worms (red wigglers, blue worms), and fishing worms (night crawlers) are good worms. Earthworms are found in rich soil. If your plants are healthy and growing, chances are there are earthworms down there toiling away to help make this happen. Those die-hard fishermen can tell you about the benefits of a good, fat fishing worm! Catfish and bream are two of the types of fish that enjoy worms.

Worms are important for composting. They break down the material and produce a rich compost called vermicast or vermicompost. This compost is an excellent fertilizer. It retains moisture, encourages root growth and is high in the minerals that help plants grow.

Here’s one way you can help an earthworm (I know you want to)-the next time it rains and you see a worm on the street or sidewalk, gently move it to a grassy area so that it can burrow back into the ground. You can then congratulate yourself on being a lifesaver!

So now you know why you should create a worm farm. Worms are a vital part of our ecosystem and they do deserve our appreciation and respect.

A worm’s body is made up of 70-95 percent water. Worms therefore require a very moist environment that should be mimicked in the worm farm. When worms die, they often shrivel up and go unnoticed as the water content is lost at this point.

Worms are cold blooded animals. Temperatures between 50-80 degrees are required to maintain the worm farm. The optimum temperature would be between 72 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit to assist the regulation of their body temperatures. Worm farms should be placed in a location that allows for this constant temperature, or bins that are insulated should be purchased.

One focus of worm farming is to have worms that will reproduce easily. Worms are hermaphrodites, meaning they possess both male and female sex organs. Worm farmers must realize that although they are hermaphrodites, they cannot self-fertilize. A single worm cannot reproduce alone. A colony of many worms will result in larger numbers being produced.

Red Wiggler

Worms used in worm farms are covered in a slimy mucus coating. This coating serves many purposes. The mucus helps the worms retain water. Since their bodies are made up of a high percentage of water, an important step when worm farming is to be sure to provide adequate moisture levels in the bin. The worm is able to hold in the required moisture level because of this mucus coating.

The worm’s mucus coating is also a protector. As the worm burrows into soil and bedding, the mucus provides a slick coat protecting it from harmful substances that may reside there.

The anatomy of the mouth of the worm is regarded as unique. In the worm, the mouth is called the Peristonium. Worms do not have teeth. Instead they have this mouth organ that is used for prying. Worm farmers should be aware that worms will be able to better compost food items that have been cut into smaller pieces. Soaked paper and cardboard products will be more easily pried apart than hard, non-soaked pieces.

Established worm farmers and those new to the hobby are often surprised to learn the life span of the worms that are commonly used in worm farming. The common lifespan of these worms is typically between 4 and 8 years. It has been reported that some worms have been known to live over 15 years.

These are long lived creatures whose lives are most often cut short by accidents. The myth that worms can be cut in half and therefore produce two worms is false. If a worm is cut behind its vital organs it will grow a new tail, but the back part will not survive. Worm farmers should always be careful when searching for worms, replacing bedding or removing vermicompost. Sharp or hard tools are likely to injure a worm or even cause death.

If provided a good diet, proper living conditions and a safe environment, worms can live long healthy lives. Healthy worms produce healthy compost that can be put to good use. Understanding the basics of the anatomy of these worms will aid in the understanding of how unique they are and how to address their needs.