Raising Worms

So as you all know, I raise worms, and thoroughly enjoy it. I thought I'd do a little helpful how to on raising them, for those of you who might consider it.

Lets start with housing.

To begin with, if you want to raise worms above ground, you will need housing. There are several kinds of housing that you can buy, like the worm 360, or the flow through. They really are very nice, BUT if your on a budget, there are cheaper alternatives. I use totes. I just drill small holes in the bottom so that the excess water can drain off, and then I drill air holes around the top, and in the lid. Depending on the brand and the size of the tub you get, you can do this for 10 bucks or less.

Bedding. There are so many different things you can use as bedding. You can either spend money on the bedding, or you can do it cheap and free (that's what I do) Some people buy the compressed coconut fiber and hydrate it for them, and some people buy peat moss. Those are both really excellent items, and I do plan on using them in the future.  I personally use shredded newspaper, which works well. I also tear up cardboard pizza boxes, toilet paper and paper towel rolls. Its an excellent way of recycling, and worms love wet cardboard. they just seem to find it yummy.  If you have access to it, Rabbit poo, or Cow poo makes excellent bedding, they will be super happy, AND they will multiply quickly.  (when we get our bunnies next month, I'm going to start switching over to the rabbit poo)

Food

Food is quite easy. You can feed them your dinner scraps...well most of your dinner scraps.
You cannot give them meat, diary, tomatoes, or anything citrusy. (remember they have no skin, so the citrus from the tomatoes or fruit will burn them) They love potatoes, carrots, celery, melons, pumpkins, green beans, apples, banana peels, coffee grounds, corn cobs, and other things along those lines. Now your going to want to make sure not to over feed, because they have no teeth, so the food has to get soft in order for them to eat it. Other wise, your container full of worms will start to develop a smell, and you may end up with unwanted pests in there. Once that happens, the worms will try their hardest to escape. What I do is unless its pumpkin rind, I will cook it soft, and run it through the blender and turn it into a nice puree, which they really seem to love.

Random tips
Your going to want to make sure the inside of your tub stays damp, but not wet. Other wise your worms will dry up, and they will die. I have a spray bottle that I use to spray down everything to keep it nice and moist, and keep them happily wriggling along.

If you give them cow poo, you will need to make sure its aged, and nice and hard. Once its aged, you can take and beat it with a hammer, or whatever and crumble it up. Then you can sprinkle it all over the top of your worm tub.

More great recycling...as long as you aren't using any kind of chemicals, or powders when you vacuum, you can dump your canister into the worm tubs. It will work as food and bedding all at the same time.

Have rabbits??? Well the fur that they shed or make their nests with can be given to your worms. Worms like the hair. (it does sound a bit strange)

I tend to forget about my worm tubs now and then. Mostly because they are indeed out of sight. The thing is though, I never forget about them for more than a week at a time, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, because the more you disturb your worms, the less mating they will do. You want them to stay in the layer that their food is in so that they will continue eating, and making that beautiful black poo that's awesome for just about everything when it comes to your garden. That's why its important that you monitor your moisture, because if you have a good moisture level you can indeed forget about your worms for a week.

My worms are probably the easiest thing I raise here on my little farm. They don't make noise, they don't have a smell, and I don't have to buy them food. Now tell me, who could ask for anything better than that???