corrosionjerry Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Need a little help with this... I started a tub of red wigglers several weeks ago..... mixed peat moss / garden dirt / news paper together.... made it damp to the touch and have been adding old vegetable material and some egg shells periodically as well as a little water from time to time to keep it slightly moist... Checked the worm farm this morning carefully hoping to find a bounty of worms so I turned over the mix and I saw no more then a couple of worms ..... My Discus are getting hungry..... any suggestions are welcome... Oh yes the tub is a rubbermaid tub about 5 gallon.. holes drilled in the top and bottom... and the farm is in a room that is about 65 degrees and dark most of the time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 How maney worms did you start with Gerry. Maybe it is too wet. Do you have a drain in the bottom Takes a bit for them to get going. I have 3 going now and find I have to leave the drains open to catch the worm tea.. I add shedded news paper to all the food to suck up moisture and also for feed. They are doing great now. They are at the point where I just add the food to the top and cover it with sheets of damp newspaper. When your veg. rot they do produce a lot of moisture.I think my worms have more than doubled over the winter. I was also mixing in composed horse manure also but ran out and will have to wait for spring to get more. I keep mine out in the shop with the temp. at about 70 degrees.My frist tub was started with 1 lb of worms and within 4 months I split them and started the second tub. The thrid tub I got was already up and running when I got it so I can not say how maney worms were in it. from what I have read and seen they should double in about 3 months. Mine seem to have. So all I can think of is don't keep it to wet and make sure you have a drain. Also do not stir it up to much as this will set thinks back. Just add food the the top and cover it. And leave them alone . I,m sure they will do fine. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Need a little help with this...I started a tub of red wigglers several weeks ago..... mixed peat moss / garden dirt / news paper together.... made it damp to the touch and have been adding old vegetable material and some egg shells periodically as well as a little water from time to time to keep it slightly moist... Checked the worm farm this morning carefully hoping to find a bounty of worms so I turned over the mix and I saw no more then a couple of worms ..... My Discus are getting hungry..... any suggestions are welcome... Oh yes the tub is a rubbermaid tub about 5 gallon.. holes drilled in the top and bottom... and the farm is in a room that is about 65 degrees and dark most of the time... I do remember that it took a long time to get a good colony thriving as worms have to mature, breed and the cocoons to hatch. I think it took 5 month's before a reliable amount was available, but I was harvesting some before that. If the mix is too acid (lots of peat) you would see worms trying to escape as they would leave if the mix is too wet or dry. I found that wetter is better. After 2 years I have so many worms that I cannot possibly feed them all: please come get some :smokey: John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrosionjerry Posted February 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 I may have get some of those worms John.... I will give it a little more time... how wet is wet john.... mine is damp but not soaking wet... I started with about 40 worms Frank...... probably that is not enough ..... Thanks for the tips guys.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geleen Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 I may have get some of those worms John.... I will give it a little more time... how wet is wet john.... mine is damp but not soaking wet... I started with about 40 worms Frank...... probably that is not enough ..... Thanks for the tips guys.... I have a constant production of the " tea" about a gallon over the last 3 months. This is out of 2 bins about 14x10x12 high. It is wet enough that a small squeeze produces free moisture and I have a hard time keeping it NOT so wet. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsgofishn Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 I find that orange peel, apple core, vegs works the best. Don't use watermelons, or lettuce because.... too wet later. When it gets too wet, I tip the rubbermaid at angle move the soil to upside and let the water drain then scoop out the unwanted water. I find that if I am going to start a new culture, I will place newspaper on top and the worms will move to the top of the soil. If geleen doesn't have enough to give out, you can buy the red worms from the Earth General Store @ 2Flr-10832 82 Avenue. I think a big bag of worms is about $15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algae farmer Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Need a little help with this...I started a tub of red wigglers several weeks ago..... mixed peat moss / garden dirt / news paper together.... made it damp to the touch and have been adding old vegetable material and some egg shells periodically as well as a little water from time to time to keep it slightly moist... Checked the worm farm this morning carefully hoping to find a bounty of worms so I turned over the mix and I saw no more then a couple of worms ..... My Discus are getting hungry..... any suggestions are welcome... Oh yes the tub is a rubbermaid tub about 5 gallon.. holes drilled in the top and bottom... and the farm is in a room that is about 65 degrees and dark most of the time... I use 2- 15gal rubbermaid containers one set inside the other. The top container contains the worms and bedding, which is also vented on the top lid and has 1/8" holes drilled in the bottom. The Bottom container which catches the excess fluid has 1/4" vent holes drilled on the sides about 5" up. For bedding I only use newspaper and bury the vegi scraps in it. With this setup you never have to worry about excess moisture. Coffee grinds seems to be one of their best foods, paper filter and all. The bottom container usually has to be emptied every 3 months or so. When you see that the newspaper has been almost totally consumed, just shred some more and put it in dry on top of the culture. I've had this worm ranch going for 4 years without any problems whatsoever. take care Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 When I set up mine they came with coir blocks. This is what I use and it works great. If you are getting that much tea, I would say it is to wet. If my collection trays on the bottom are filling with tea , then I change things a bit to dry them up. Now my collection trays are full or filling with moist worm casings only. I can havest these worm casings and use them for planting. the worm tea has too be cut with at least 50% water before adding to plants. Even with a brewer it is only good for a little bit . Like a day or two. I just picked up a coir block at canadian Tire. Coir and peat mix. Will make 16 Quarts when you soak it. Setting up a big tub this time and getting in some earth worms to try them. May have to set up a few as my reds are growing like cazy. John: If you have to many just do like I do.Find a store that sells Fish bait and sell to them. I just came up with a name and made a label on the computer. Got some 3''x6'' bags for 5 cents each. took a hr. to bag up 20 bags with 12 worms in each. sold them for $2.50 a bag and made $50.00. More than paid for the Lb of worms I frist got. Take care guys and happy worm farming. Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algae farmer Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Here is a link to the type of bin that works well for me. http://www.klickitatcounty.org/SolidWaste/.../OscrJunior.pdf enjoy PS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrosionjerry Posted February 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Here is a link to the type of bin that works well for me. http://www.klickitatcounty.org/SolidWaste/.../OscrJunior.pdfenjoy PS Thank You for the link.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.