Worm Farming

Everyone has that one “hard-to-buy-for” person on their Christmas List. Still struggling with what to get that person? Have you ever thought about a worm farm factory and a pound of red wigglers? What? I bet this is something that person doesn’t have and doesn’t expect to get for Christmas. Give a gift to that special person that will keep on giving for years to come. What a great idea!

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.

Worm farming is becoming more and more popular all over the United States, this article will give you some ideas to help you start your own worm farm.

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!

Worm farming is an excellent way to naturally compost waste without adding to landfills. Vermicompost is produced as a result, providing a nutrient rich substance that greatly benefits gardens, crops and house plants. The worms (red wigglers) kept in worm farms demand little to remain healthy, voracious eaters. Understanding the anatomy of these worms proves useful in understanding their needs.

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.