Earth Worms
Many people who are new to raising earthworms begin raising them in a Do-It-Yourself plastic storage bin. The convenience of portability along with the fact that most folks will not be raising populations in the tens of thousands makes the indoor worm bin system an easy project. And for those who are contemplating raising worms on a large scale, the worm bin is a smart way to learn how to raise them in a controlled environment before making a big investment. Because the extremes of heat and cold climates can be harmful to earthworms, raising them indoors ensures that their environment will always be climate controlled. You can put the bin in your garage (if cool), basement, closet, spare bedroom or your porch. If you decide to keep your bin outside, keep it away from direct sunlight. For those of you living in the south, putting your bin outside may be too hot during the summer months -- the combination of heat and humidity definitely becomes a factor when raising earthworms in a plastic bin that isn't designed to insulate against that kind of weather.
This has long been the composter's choice for raising earthworms. It has excellent moisture retention and is readily available from your local garden or home improvement store. You will need to moisten the peat before adding to your bin. Soak until completely saturated, then squeeze until just damp like a sponge. And... although worms will consume peat, you must add other food such as kitchen scraps or paper because peat has no nutritive value.
Because peat can to be slightly acidic, I recommend soaking your peat for 24 hours before putting in your worm bin OR adding a cup of lime to the water if you don't want to soak for that long (the calcium in the lime raises the pH). You can also add a 1-2 teaspoons of lime to the kitchen scraps each time you add food to your bin. Crushed eggshells will also raise the pH. If you choose to add lime to your bin, make sure you don't buy slaked/hydrated lime. Slaked and hydrated are toxic and will burn your earthworms. Slaked/hydrated lime is used in making mortar and cement. Manure can be used as either bedding or food and is generally used for outdoor worm beds and compost piles. You can use rabbit manure, composted cow or horse manure to top off your bin if you use peat as bedding. Rabbit manure is especially attractive for worm farmers because it is a "cold" manure -- it does not need to sit for weeks composting before adding to your worm bin. The manure already contains loads of microorganisms that earthworms thrive on. Earthworms LOVE manure and thrive on the nutrients available within it. Manure is a natural habitat for composting worms and contain many of the organisms vital to an earthworm's growth.
There is one potential downside to using horse and cow manure; if the animals were given de-worming drugs this could be fatal to your worms. Any amount of de-worming drug the animal's body did not absorb will be present in their stool. A good rule of thumb is to only use composted manure that is at least two months old. Coconut fiber, or coir, is a renewable material that comes primarily from India and Sri Lanka. It is becoming more popular with organic composters as well as the hydroponic growing industry. It may be a bit pricier that some other bedding material, but you will be satisfied to know that you are using a renewable of bedding when compared to peat moss. But, just like peat, your worms cannot survive in coconut fiber alone.
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You will want a bin that gives enough space to house your worms and bedding. For do-it-yourselfers, an 18 gallon (give or take 2 gallons) bin is a good size to start with. Starting with 3 pounds of worms gives you a good amount to process your kitchen scraps. This amount also allows enough room for your earthworms to reproduce as your worm bin can hold upwards to around 9 pounds of worms. Use only opaque bins. See-through bins will stress your earthworms as they will continually dig toward the center of your bin trying to get away from light. There are several types of bedding that you can use. I'll outline the most popular types and list some pros and cons of each type. A readily available source of bedding is newspaper. You will need to shred the paper before putting it in your bin. You can hand shred it or use machine shredded paper. In my opinion, though, hand shredding is better as it doesn't clump or get matted together. If you choose to hand shred your paper make sure the strips are no greater that 2-3 inches wide. You will also need to moisten the paper before adding it to your bin. You can mist it with a spray bottle or soak it and wring out so it isn't soggy. One of the advantages of paper is that worms can survive in it without adding any kitchen scraps. But, although they won't starve to death eating just paper, a paper-only diet will produce very small worms.
It is always a good idea to "turn" or "fluff" your bedding at least once a week. You can do this by digging down to the bottom and bringing the bedding to the top. This ensures that plenty of air is in contact with the contents of your bin. You want your bedding to have plenty of oxygen so decomposition remains accelerated, plus it makes it easier for your worms to crawl through it.
The earthworm is an eating machine. It literally eats the earth as it burrows through it. Material that is too large to ingest will be pushed aside with its "head" (prostomium). Worms don't have teeth, so the material they eat is first moistened in their mouth then passed into their gizzard which acts like teeth and grinds the food. The food is then passed to their intestines which absorb the nutrients contained within. Whatever the worm doesn't digest is then passed out of their bodies as nitrogen rich worm castings. An important fact to know about feeding your earthworms is that they thrive on the microscopic organisms that live on the decomposing organic matter they ingest. These organisms include a variety of algae, fungi and bacteria that are essential for the worm's growth. When it comes to kitchen scraps, worms will consume just about everything you do, with the exception of a few. I outlined below the biggest "don'ts" -- anything that is not listed should be ok to add to your bin or compost pile. If you are unsure, the best rule of thumb is don't use it. |
- Don'ts The Reason... Meat and Bones Decaying meat produces offensive odor.
- May attract flies, rodents, ants and other non-desired pests.
- Bones will not be processed by worms. Salty snack food or Fast food Big Macs, potato chips, french fries and olives are a few examples. You can soak salty foods overnight, pour off the water, then feed to your earthworms.
- Pet feces Dog or cat feces do not belong in your worm bin as they are not properly processed manure. May contain viral or bacterial toxins.
- Green grass A big mass of yard clippings will decompose thermophilically and will create high temperatures that are harmful.
- Alcohol Very toxic.
- Excess citrus fruit Citrus fruit contains a substance called limonene that can be toxic to earthworms in large quantities. You can throw in some orange peels -- just not 15 oranges at once!
- Pressure-treated wood The active ingredient is cyanide which is toxic to worms in small quantities.
Source -
http://www.worms4earth.com/raiseworms.php