Worm Farm?

MarkV · Jan 12, 2004

Here is something I never thought I would ask about. Someone gave me an A-Z type of book about rural living for Christmas and they had a short section about small-scale worm farms. It was geared towards what great soil amendments worm casings made for flowers and gardens. Well my wife saw the section and commented that raising some worms would be great for her new passion of fishing now that we have a lake at the house. She doesn't like to drive the 10 miles to the nearest place that carries any bait. The funny thing is she will leave the room if there is a snake on TV, but worms seem to be OK.

The article and some Internet searches make it seem like once you set up the system them little critters are pretty self-sustaining. Dump some non-meat kitchen scrapes in each week and those little guys will make you the best organic fertilizer you can get. Also seems that if you keep them happy they will multiply in such a way the wife can go catch dinner anytime the urge hits her.

So, has anyone ever tried to raise worms?

MarkV

thcri · Jan 12, 2004

When younger we use the have these small worm beds. About 3 ft and 3 ft. We use to catch worms by using this little electric rod that we stuck in the ground and the worms would come out. We would catch the worms and put in this bed and we would put old coffee grounds in the bed every so often. Kept the worms living and multiplying. We had all the worms we wanted for the summer.

murph

MarkV · Jan 12, 2004

Murph,
That is about the size of the worm boxes the article I read was talking about. It is interesting that you gathered worms locally and they multiplied. Most of the information I have seen says that you need to use "Red worms" or "Red Wigglers", which may be one in the same. Of course that may be the kind of worms from your area. I must admit that my worm knowledge is pretty limited.

Evidently coffee and tea grounds are a real delicacy to worms.

MarkV

shoppintractors · Jan 12, 2004

I can vouch for coffee grounds. Years ago my dad would get bulk coffee grounds from the coffee machines at work. My cousins had a worm business. They would use the coffee grounds in the holding bins and on the lawn. The kids would water the lawn in the evening, go out around 11pm - midnight with flashlights. Then snatch up the worms as they laid out on the surface. Myself, I grind up old paperback books for the compost pile, then I get lots of bookworms... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Don

thcri · Jan 12, 2004

I don't actually remember the name for them but we called them nightcrawlers. Good size to them. Another way to get them out of the ground is to take a bunch of walnuts from a tree with their shell on it. Throw the walnuts in a 5 gallon bucket and mix up a bit and even shuck a few of the walnuts to get the water a good green color. Then take the water and throw it on the ground where you think a bunch of worms are. In mid day they will come right out of the ground. This is by experience. Just happen to run across it. My wife and me had a house with a few walnut trees on the property. We thought it would be fun to schuck a bunch of them, (never again /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) but anyway when I was done I just dumped the water out and you should have seen the crawlers come out of the ground. I was shocked, if I knew that when I was younger that would have been easier than the way we were doing it.

murph

Tractors4u · Jan 12, 2004

Lay a piece of carpeting on the ground. It wil need to lay there at least a week or so. When you need worms, just it up and then gather up the worms. I don't know why it works but it does. I don't remember where I learned that trick. Also if you lay a piece of tin out on the ground in the same fashion and pick it up there is a good chance you will find a snake. That was on Discovery or Animal Planet. Seems the reason behind that is that the tin gets hot and those cold blooded beast like the heat. But who fishes with snakes any way? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

PineRidge · Jan 12, 2004

When we were kids we also used the extension cord and 2 pieces of Rebar wrapped with electrical tape on the ends to collect earthworms after a storm. You had to be careful though cause if you got careless and the bare pieces of rebar touched it always made some fireworks. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

MossRoad · Jan 12, 2004

We use to pull nightcrawlers with a flash light that we put red cellophane over the light and it won't scare them. Just go out to any nice lawn after a rain or water it for a few hours before dusk. Use the light and you can see them. Grab them quickly and hold on, but don't pull or you'll snap them in half. Just hold on for a few seconds and they'll give up and let you pull them out of their burrows.

Also, you can take an axe and use the back side to pound a long wooden stake into the ground near a leaf pile. As you pound it into the ground, worms will start coming out of the pile. Once the stake is in the ground a foot or so, use the flat side of the axe head to rub the top of the stake. It will make a grunt like noise. The worms come out of the pile even faster. Go figure?! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

thcri · Jan 12, 2004

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Also, you can take an axe and use the back side to pound a long wooden stake into the ground near a leaf pile. As you pound it into the ground, worms will start coming out of the pile. Once the stake is in the ground a foot or so, use the flat side of the axe head to rub the top of the stake. It will make a grunt like noise. The worms come out of the pile even faster. Go figure?! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif )</font>

That is a weird one. Pine my dad had a similar device that we use, a grounding rod with a handle and the hot line of 110 volt cord soldered to the rod. You use to put the rod in the ground about 2 feet and then go plug it in. The further away you were the better. I use to go and pick up the worms while it was still plugged in. Well that is why I really had curly hair. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

murph

jlbota · Jan 13, 2004

I saw a show not to long ago about worm farms and from what i remember they used manure and shredded paper to feed the worms. And then they had some kind of a fancy dryer type spinning drum that seperated the worms, worm eggs, and the good (worm dirt) I think they called it. It was pretty neat to see. Apparently this stuff sells. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif