tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-837395586110774372024-02-21T03:12:20.314-05:00How To Grow Your Own EarthwormsRaising Earthworms: Easy guide for building and maintaining your own earthworm farm.Ben Willishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08285702745160396958noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83739558611077437.post-85776456560996410392009-04-27T13:17:00.009-04:002012-10-09T11:30:01.614-04:00How To Raise Earthworms For Beginners<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VKxIeBSCTzWAV_a8-6844g9K9vTKSAGLlj4FgaYfF16a7D3dcaFnEn4X29kYX1ykT2zS23z2Pwtf9uvQggweYGuKvQHeGOQgwCnnE4q03KCUEULT8tkk7wMuhbRtwtDiRHgyPld4fHMz/s1600/Earthworms%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VKxIeBSCTzWAV_a8-6844g9K9vTKSAGLlj4FgaYfF16a7D3dcaFnEn4X29kYX1ykT2zS23z2Pwtf9uvQggweYGuKvQHeGOQgwCnnE4q03KCUEULT8tkk7wMuhbRtwtDiRHgyPld4fHMz/s400/Earthworms%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405531664948639858" /></a><br /><br />This is a simple guide for anyone interested in <strong>growing your own <a href="http://growyourownearthworms.blogspot.com/"> earthworms </a></strong> at home. As the demand grows for organic farming, earthworm castings have become more popular and appealing for home vegetable gardening and plant growers. Perhaps this article can help you make your own worm farm so you can begin growing earthworms, and save money if you do not prefer to use fertilizer.A little bit about the author first. My father had a successful earthworm farm in Florida for 25 years. He sold his Florida worms mainly to fishermen and gave away the castings to gardeners (before people started selling it). I worked for him part time over the years and picked up on his methods of how to grow earthworms that made him successful. My guess is that the reason you are reading this would be to learn how to raise your own earthworms and use the resulting castings or "worm dirt" for your own use and maybe sell some worms on the side.<br /><br /><strong>Climate: </strong>Earthworms require a mild moist climate in order to thrive. Florida is an ideal area for growing earthworms but still has some pitfalls. Summer can be too hot and would require constant watering of the worm bed to keep them cool. If your worm bed is out doors then too much rain can flood the bed. Winters are mild in Florida but <strong>earthworms</strong> cannot survive if temperatures are too cold, and forget about freezing temps. If you live in a mild climate it would be safe to build your bed out doors, if not maybe you can use a garage or shed. On cold days you can put old blankets or pieces of carpet directly on top of the bed to help keep them warm. I will presume that you are building it out doors.<br /><br /><strong>Building The Bed:</strong>You can put together a wooden square or rectangular box to raise earthworms in. Length and width will be up to you considering how large of a bed that you want or have room for. I would use 1x12 lumber. Do not use pressure treated lumber. If a board rots after awhile than replace it. So we will have a bed that is bordered on the sides and is 12" high. I do not put a bottom on the bed because I don't want to close it in too much and escape is minimal. If the earthworms dig into the ground they don't go very far because their food is always on top of the bed.<br /><br /><strong>Preparing The Bed: </strong>Now that you have the four sides of the earthworm bed constructed, find a piece of level ground to put it on, preferably in the shade. You can also put a roof over the box to keep the rain out but leave room to water and feed the bed. Fill the earthworm bed with peat moss about 6" high. You can buy bags of peat moss at any garden store. My father used to order it by the dump truck load. Once you have the peat moss in the bed, water it with a garden hose. You want the bed moist at all times but not flooded. We are ready to start growing earthworms. Go to your local fresh water bait and tackle shop and see what kind of worms they sell. Do not buy "Wigglers" because they are more difficult to maintain. Look for regular <strong>"Redworms". </strong>Considering how large your earthworm bed is for example if it is 4'x6' I would buy maybe 600 earthworms to start out. Take them home and dump them out into the bed. No need to bury them they will find their way into the ground.<br /><br /><strong>Feeding And Maintenance:</strong>After the worms are securely in your earthworm bed be sure to keep them watered daily. You can use a garden hose or set up a sprinkler system. They must stay moist at all times but remember never to over water. Worms feed on the peat moss in the bed but you still must feed then daily. You can use used coffee grounds or oatmeal. Just sprinkle it on top of the bed and they will come up to eat it like gold fish. I would highly suggest using feed made for earthworms. You can buy <a href="http://organicwormfarm.com/affiliates/affiliate/affiliate.php?id=38&group=11" title="Purina Worm Chow" target="_blank">Purina Worm Chow</a> on line. Just click the link. It is a powder and very easy to apply. Just coat the top of the earthworm bed with feed once a day. It will disappear in minutes. Do not over feed. All earthworms reproduce. There is no male and female, so if things are done correctly your first 600 worms will multiply pretty rapidly. If the peat moss level goes down, replace it with fresh peat. Simply add it on top of the bed. You don't have to mix it in.
<b>Stockpiling Castings For Compost:</b>After about six months you will be ready to start rotating the dirt to use for composting. I use a stiff rake. Begin on one side of the bed and sift through the worms with the rake. Return the excess earthworms to the other side of the bed and take out the remaining dirt. You will use this dirt in your garden or by using a fertilizer spreader, you can fertilize your lawn with it, not to mention that worms are natural lawn aerators. Replace any dirt that you remove with fresh peat moss and start the cycle over. You may end up with an over abundance of earthworms. My only suggestion would be to try to sell them to a bait shop, (See <a href="http://growyourownearthworms.blogspot.com/2008/06/starting-small-business.html">Earthworms: Starting A Small Business</a>) or give them away maybe to a youth group to sell. Either way too many worms is not a bad thing. This process will take time but in a year you should have a sizable stock of nutritious chemical free soil for your garden and the <strong>earthworms</strong> may help pay for it.<br /><br /><br /><strong>NOTE</strong>: If you would like to exchange relevant links with this site please send me an e-mail with your request. I am open to most links in the Home and Garden category. Do not try to sneak your URL into a comment. It's sneaky and dishonest. I will not approve such comments. Thanks, BenBen Willishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08285702745160396958noreply@blogger.com93tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83739558611077437.post-85269942373910829172009-03-09T12:04:00.012-04:002012-10-09T11:32:09.790-04:00Worm "Grunting", An Alternative To Raising EarthwormsThe ninth annual Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin' Festival is coming up in April in Sopchoppy, Wakulla County Florida. Sopchoppy is a small town in the Florida panhandle just south of Tallahassee, and happens to be where my father was born, the most successful <a href="http://growyourownearthworms.blogspot.com"><strong>earthworm</strong></a> farmer that I know.<br />My father didn't grunt, but he did know how to grow earthworms in a worm bed. If you don't know what "worm gruntin'" is I'll explain. A wooden stake called a "stob" is driven into the ground and a strip of iron known as a "rooping iron" is rubbed across the wooden stake that produces a grunting sound. This causes the ground to vibrate. The vibration mimics that of a digging mole, a predator of the earthworm. The worms rise to the surface and are then collected by the worm grunter to be used as fish bait.<br /><br />Sopchoppy is known as the worm gruntin' capitol of the world because the soil and conditions in the Apalachicola National Forest make it a perfect breeding ground for earthworms. Many locals in the area have made a good living selling <strong>earthworms </strong>without having to raise them. All they have to do is go into the woods, "grunt" for worms, and pick them up off of the ground when they surface. They can get thousands at a time. Remember that this is regional so other areas of the country may not be as successful.<br /><br />The heyday of earthworm grunting came to an end in 1972 when CBS reporter Charles Kuralt featured a story about a local Sopchoppy bait dealer. The dealer claimed that he made hundreds of thousands of dollars "gruntin' worms and was brought to the attention of the IRS and United States Forest Service. Now grunters have to pay $15 for a permit.<br /><br />I've never grunted for <strong>earthworms</strong> but I spent a few years growing earthworms along with my father. Being from Sopchoppy, he probably has done it himself but he has never mentioned it to me. All I know is that he had a method of raising earthworms that worked on a large scale as well as a small scale. If you follow my instructions at <a href="http://growyourownearthworms.blogspot.com/2007/12/grow-your-own-earthworms.html"><strong>How To Raise Earthworms For Beginners</strong></a>, you can do it too. It isn't that hard, but it takes time to get positive results. He started out with a small home worm bed and grew it into a full fledged working worm farm that produced tons of worm castings and hundreds of thousands of cups of fishing worms. He started out in his early 50's, ran his business for twenty years and was able to retire comfortably.Ben Willishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08285702745160396958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83739558611077437.post-46300627889388187942008-06-29T19:38:00.009-04:002012-10-09T11:33:40.418-04:00Raising Earthworms: Starting A Small BusinessSo you have an <a href="http://growyourownearthworms.blogspot.com"><strong>earthworm</strong> </a>bed or two and want to make a profit from your hard work and start a business. You can put your earthworms in cups and sell to established bait and tackle shops or you can open your own shop or do both. My father started out by selling wholesale and eventually opened up his own shop.<br />In my opinion selling wholesale is a lot tougher with smaller returns. You have to establish a territory, visit the shops, convince the business owners to buy your worms and do a lot of driving. You have to sell your <strong>earthworms</strong> at a competitive lower price for bulk and you have to stand behind your product. That means that if worms die they have to be replaced.<br />I was a sales rep for a company when my father was getting his shop established and did a lot of local driving own my own. At the time, my dad had four large worm beds and an over abundance of <strong>earthworms</strong>. He got a business license and put up a sign on some property he owned and before you knew it fishermen were stopping by to buy worms. He put fifty in each cup and they couldn't sell fast enough. As a sales rep, I would run into fishing tackle wholesalers on the road and asked them to drop by my dads place and see if they could help get him into selling tackle.<br />He started selling cane poles, hooks, bobbers, leads and even bought a tank to sell minnows and shiners. But his main product were the earthworms. They were easy to maintain and the overhead consisted of buying Styrofoam cups and lids, bags of feed, water for the beds and paying someone to count and cup the worms. If he had known that people would actually pay for the casings he would have sold that too but he gave it away to friends. His shop gained a good reputation and was always busy. I worked for him part time maintaining the beds and digging earthworms. He got out of selling earthworms wholesale and sold strictly from his small business from then on.Ben Willishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08285702745160396958noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83739558611077437.post-88312368110149001072008-06-03T14:26:00.003-04:002008-06-03T14:53:04.658-04:00Can't I Just Use Garden Worms In My Worm Farm?/ By Joe SerpicoIf you're interested in vermicomposting, typically referred to<br />as worm farming, you may have noticed that there are a lot of<br />worms living in your garden soil. If so, I can't blame you for<br />wondering why you couldn't just use them in a worm farm and save<br />the cost of buying special worms, as recommended by most experts.<br /><br />Actually, you can use common garden worms in a worm farm, but<br />you may not want to. After all, the whole reason for having a<br />worm farm is in order to get that finished compost product,<br />known as castings or vermicast. Any readers not familiar with<br />the worm farming process may be surprised to learn that these<br />castings are actually worm excrement - but it's an odorless<br />'earth-like' product that makes a great fertilizer or soil<br />amendment. Anyway, It's true that you'll save money initially<br />with the garden worms, but you'll pay a penalty when it comes to<br />the amount of castings that they produce.<br /><br />You see, most worms normally found in garden soil normally live<br />quite a bit deeper in the soil than the preferred composting<br />type. These garden worms prefer the nutrients found deep in the<br />soil, so that's why they like to habitate there. They don't<br />adapt real well to being enclosed in a worm farm, and since they<br />don't normally eat the type of waste material you'll be feeding<br />them, they will process much less of it than the worms typically<br />used for vermicomposting. Basically, what you'll have is a<br />poorly perfoming system, which sort of defeats the whole idea of<br />worm farming, which is to make the composting process much more<br />efficient.<br /><br />The type of worms preferred for worm farming like to live near<br />the surface of the soil where they can reach the food they<br />favor, such as leaf litter or other plant debris. The most<br />popular of these preferred worms is called the red wiggler, or<br />sometimes just the redworm.<br /><br />These types of worms are usually available for less than twenty<br />dollars a pound. Normally, you'll only need a pound or two to<br />get started, and should never have to add any more, as they will<br />multiply dramatically in a well-run farm. If you don't have a<br />supplier near you, just do an internet search for 'worm farm<br />supplies' in your state or geographical area.<br /><br />When you purchase worms like this, you remove any question about<br />whether or not they're suited for the task, since they've been<br />raised under the very conditions you'll be asking them to live<br />in, which should allow them to be prolific composters. And<br />that's what worm farming is all about!<br /><br />About the author:<br />If you want to read more about how to get started with worm<br />farming, and learn about things such as <a href="http://www.wormfarmguide.com/worm-farm-designs.html">worm<br />farm designs</a>, head on over to <a href="http://www.wormfarmguide.com">Joe's site</a>.Ben Willishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08285702745160396958noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83739558611077437.post-84855242088432739072007-11-30T12:52:00.005-05:002011-05-18T12:36:24.812-04:00Privacy Policy<strong>Updated April 2009</strong><br /><br />This website/blog uses third-party advertising companies to serve ads when visiting this site. These third parties may collect and use information (but not your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. 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Please check the advertisers websites for respective privacy policies.<br /><br />Contact Information<br /><br />If you have any questions or concerns please contact Ben Willis at bwillismusic@gmail.comBen Willishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08285702745160396958noreply@blogger.com0