Here is some great questions from Gwen. here is the questions!
“I too am interested in worm farming. I live in Central Oregon which is a great place to raise worms. I have started 3 bins, 2 plastice bins that are each 5 levels and one 30 gallon tub with lid. I am wondering how do you know when it is time to harvest worms and start a new bin? Seems simple, I get how to separate them , feed them and all but how do you know when to harvest? Should the bins be overflowing with worms??? Should it be when the composting is complete?? I feel silly not knowing but in all the books and websites I have visited this is not clearly addressed….. HELP!!”
Gwen
I am postings pics of the bedding in the bin, and finished,or mostly composted bedding that is in need of harvesting the worm casting.
The first question is 1) “I am wondering how do you know when it is time to harvest worms and start a new bin? Seems simple,Should the bins be overflowing with worms???”
here is the answer: It is time to start a new bin when the worm numbers are very high, so “yes” when it seems that your bin is overflowing with worms, it is time to start a new bin. because as the bin continues to be processed by the worms, the bin starts to fill up with worm castings in turn making less space for food, For the worms to consume, so in my opion, the worms are in their greatest numbers when the bin is full of food sourses. So this would be 2-3 months after starting the bin, as long as the worms have had a good food supply up till now. If you wait till the composting is complete, the number of worms will have dropped in big numbers.
so Gwen! I hope this answer helps
Jeff
Now I would like to post some pics of, worm bin bedding, composted bedding, pre-composted bedding etc.
Here is a pic of pre-composted food waste that I pickup from the Old Vault rest. please check out the post on the Old Vault Food waste.
Next we have a pic of shredded cardboard, this stuff is great for adding to a worm bin, If your bin gets too moist, cardboard will take care of the excess moisture very quickly.
Another bedding material I like to use is shredded paper, YES you will hear my worm buddies say that shredded paper has chemicals in it, in numbers to high to use this material for worm bedding, I have had only one problem when using paper, It will pack down in the bin if used in thick layers, so if you mix the paper and cardboard together, the combo works great.
Now on to the worm bed, this is a pic of the worm bed completely composted ready to be harvested.
This a pic after the composted bedding is screened and turned into Worm Castings(worm poop)
I hope these pictures of the different processing steps in the worm bedding helps alot of you people out.
Lets hear what you have to say!! was this post helpful??
Thanks Jeff
Written by Jeff on August 26th, 2008 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on About Earthworms and Composting with composting worms and Friendly Worm Guy Store and News and Reader Questions and Worm Stories.
These Mealworms ship to Canada only! If you are interested in getting some Mealworms from me for Bait or pet food please contact me via email Jeff@Friendlywormguy.com
Written by Jeff on August 26th, 2008 with no comments.
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Well , its a little more then a week since my last post on the Giant Sunflowers Growth. But it was worth the wait. This week the flower is coming on the plant, and it is now 10 feet and 10 inchs TALL.
I am sure the plant is not going to get any taller, but lets see if the plant will be able to remain standing with the weight of the very big Sunflower head that is going to grow on this plant in the next couple of weeks. now from guessing how tall this plant will get, now we can guess the weight of the finished sunflower head.
Till next time!!
Giant Sunflower #1
Giant Sunflower Update #2
Jeff
Written by Jeff on August 26th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Composting with composting worms and Friendly Worm Guy Store and News and Worm Stories and playing around.
The last couple of days, I have got some emails with some really good questions about taking care of the worm bins, some of the questions included.1) How do I tell if the bin is wet enough? 2) when should we harvest the worms? 3) What does the bedding look like when its time to harvest the Worm Castings?
In this post I will try to answer all these great questions and provide some pics of the bedding in the worm bins through to the finished (completely composted bedding)
Here are some questions from a customer of mine, here is what Ed asked!
I read that it should be “like a damp sponge”. I also wonder if I actually have enough worms…In time , I’m sure I will. Would it be possible for you to take a few pics of one of your bins so I may guage conditions? Maybe lift some cover to show conditions inside the pile? Should I rotate the bottom to the top or occasionally break up to aerate?
1) How wet should your worm bin be? well the wet sponge idea is the safe zone, not much will go wrong if you follow this tip. In my opinion your bin has to be a little more wet then the wet sponge idea, So that your moisture is almost wet! if you are using a plastic bin, you should see moisture on the sides of the bin, European Nightcrawlers like the bin with more moisture then the Red Wigglers do.You need the moisture for the bin to operate properly, in quoting my wife (Lorie) she tells our customers that in time after buying worms and or a complete bin from us, That taking care of the worms just starts to come natural to you, you soon start to learn how much to feed the worms, what food waste the worms just love, and what food takes a while to break down so the worms can consume that food.
2) Should I rotate the bedding in my bin bottom to top?
Don’t be afraid to get down and dirty in your worm bin, moving the bedding around in the bin doesn’t hurt, it gets the air moving in your bin, but you don’t have to do this, the worms will work all the bedding in the bin like little plows, the worms soon turn all the bedding into Castings(worm poop)
I hope Ed that these pics of my worm bin gives you an idea of what the bedding the bin should look like.
In my next post! I will answer these great questions from Gwen.
I too am interested in worm farming. I live in Central Oregon which is a great place to raise worms. I have started 3 bins, 2 plastice bins that are each 5 levels and one 30 gallon tub with lid. I am wondering how do you know when it is time to harvest worms and start a new bin? Seems simple, I get how to separate them , feed them and all but how do you know when to harvest? Should the bins be overflowing with worms??? Should it be when the composting is complete?? I feel silly not knowing but in all the books and websites I have visited this is not clearly addressed….. HELP!!!
Gwen
check back soon!
Jeff
Written by Jeff on August 18th, 2008 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on About Earthworms and Composting with composting worms and News and Reader Questions and Worm Stories.
Reuse and Recycle at its best! My building I harvest all my worms in, and the building I make all my worm bins in, Is made from 95% left over and reused materials and it looks great TOO!
My building is 16′ wide X 24′ long, the doors and windows were either given to me by someone, or they were bought at yard sales by us.
3 years ago we completely gave our house new siding,windows,doors,electical,etc 75% of the siding was left over from doing the house, so I only had to buy 200 sq ft of siding to complete the building.
I also needed to buy the cement mix to mix my cement. I can’t remember but I think I got 12 bags of cement. When I got to the electical, I was able to get a (breaker)panel box from my brother-in-law, the one that was in our house was too big, I only needed a small one for a building of this size.
For safety reasons I did not want to save money when it came to wiring the building, I bought the wire and the fixtures.
Well there you have it!! The cost of this building to me so far, I still need to do work inside,is $500.00.
WOW! Yes $500.00 dollars, The point I am getting to is (REDUCE,REUSE,,RECYCLE) And look at the great stuff you can do with Recycled Materials.
Till next Time….
Jeff
Written by Jeff on August 17th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on About Earthworms and Composting with composting worms and Friendly Worm Guy Store and News and Worm Stories.
Here is an UPDATE on my Giant Sunflower, if you recall last weeks post where the sunflower was 8.5 feet tall.
We are having a little fun with this post WOW! I wonder how tall this plant will get too!
Check back again next week! so far we have a foot (12″) of grow per week,
Jeff
Written by Jeff on August 13th, 2008 with no comments.
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This great little school in Whitefish, Not only has composting worms in the classrooms and a great recycling program in place, RH Murray can now Clean all its waste water as well!
This article is from www.NorthernLife.ca news paper,(Sudbury Ontario) dated July 30, 2008
Here it is, enjoy!
R.H. Murray School in Whitefish is using an advanced wastewater system to treat its waste more efficiently. At the same time it is protecting nearby groundwater and streams, said Terry Luck, wastewater representative for Bionest Distribution Inc., based in Pembroke.
The $100,000-plus system was installed Monday. The company has installed 300 similar systems in southern Ontario, 6,000 in Quebec and 200 in Western Canada, said Luck.
Peter Firla, environmental engineer with Trow Associates, designer of the Whitefish installation, said the school needed a new wastewater system to replace the use of a sewage lagoon it has been using since the 1960s.
“The school has concerns over liability, mosquitoes, odour and illegal dumping regarding the lagoon and they wanted a new system designed and installed,” said Firla. The clay soil on site did not offer the proper percolation rate for a standard septic system, he said.
Because a commercial sized septic and field bed system requires a lot of space, the school asked Trow to come up with a smaller sized system.
“We had just investigated a system for a client locally using the Bionest technology and went with that.”
Between the standard-sized 25 cubic metre septic tank and the field bed, is a 15 cubic metre unit that measures 1.5 metres high, two metres wide and 4.5 metres long. The unit is called a Bionest wastewater treatment system.
The system will operate more efficiently over a longer period of time and requires less space on the site, said Firla.
The downsized field bed that can handle 10,000 litres per day is sized at 30 metres by 30 metres.
“A smaller field bed means less excavation, less aggregate used and less space (is) required,” said Firla.
The wastewater leaving the field bed is cleaner than that of a conventional septic system process. This is important because the liquid eventually seeps into ground water or ends up in nearby water bodies.
“The wastewater will have a lower BOD (biological oxygen demand) going into adjacent water bodies. It will tie up much less oxygen that is required by fish or other life,” he said.
Firla said he would recommend the system to other clients in the north. For more information about the system, go to www.bionest.ca
Written by Jeff on August 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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This is going to be a whole new part of the FriendlyWormGuy website
(Seasonal Pictures From The FriendlyWormGuy Farm)
We live in Northern Ontario Canada, In our opinion the most wonderful place in Ontario, From fishing in the hundreds of lakes and rivers in our area, to snowmobling, skiing, skating to the change in season to Spring when all comes back to life again. Our farm is 160 acres or .5 mile by .5 mile square in size, We have a wonderland full of great pictures,
I am going to start with some pictures taken here this week, from scary clouds to a wonderful rainbow.
It is so dark!! this was taken late afternoon
Now to some of the wonderful pics after the clouds moved on a little.
This is the reason, our area is called Rainbow Country
For those of you readers that like to look at some great pictures, from flower pics in summer to winter pics, and the other great pics we are able to catch on this wonderful farm of ours, check back regularly to see more great pictures.
Hope you enjoy this part of the website as much as we do.
Jeff and Lorie.
Written by Jeff on August 10th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on News and Seasonal pictures from the FriendlyWormGuy farm and playing around.
Thinking of some fun stuff to do, I decided it was time to start tracking the growth of our GIANT SUNFLOWER,
My mother (Suzanne) and myself standing beside the 8.5′ Giant Sunflower.
In the last week this Sunflower has took off like crazy! So it was time to start tracking the growth of this Sunflower, Yes it is being fertilized with Worm Castings. Today I got the tape out, 8.5′ tall, the flower has not started to develop yet, and we still have alot of growing season. Who knows, this thing could hit 12-14′ we’ll have to wait and see!!
I will update again in a week! please follow this post, it is going to be fun!
Jeff
Written by Jeff on August 6th, 2008 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on About Earthworms and News and Worm Stories and playing around.
I am a new worm farmer and you have answered my questions before when no one else did, thank you.
My self, my wife,Tonsie and our friends Mike brown and his wife, Mary, formed a partnership and we are now worm farmers. We have a newly build worm bin that is 3 feet by 6 feet and we have 3 lbs. of European night crawlers. The bin is made out of plywood above ground and is 24 inches deep.
I did’nt say we were big worm farmers at this time but we will be.
I have a couple of questions for you, I hope you have time to answer.
1. How can I seperate the castings from the vermicompost to get pure worm castings? (I saw your machine, us geting one like that would be difficult at best.)
2. We plan on selling both bait worms and castings. How many lbs. of worms will we need before we can start marketing the worms?
3. How many bins 3? by 6? will we need to start producing enough castings to start selling?
4. I guess I am asking you how many lbs of worms do we keed before we really are “Worm farmers”?
5. I plan on ordering more worms in September, if I order from you how am I assured that I am getting pure European Night Crawlers and not a mixture of Reds and Euros? (They will be shipped to Washington State.)
thanks
Rod
Hi Rod
Rod has asked some Great questions, That I and alot of other worm farmers thought of before they started in the worm business.(I am sure) I will try and answer these questions as well as I can, He has asked five questions, I will asnwer them in order that he asked them in order from 1-5
1) Seperating worm castings is a job in its self, I seperated my worm castings by hand for a year or so before I got my Fanning Mill, even with the fanning mill the vermicompost needs to be on the dry side before the fanning mill can do the Great job that it does. So it really depends on how much investment you would like to, or can put into the business, you can also buy a rotating worm harvester, that is fairly costly. the final worm castings needs to be screened through a 1/8″ screen.
2) This is a hard one to answer, I would try to keep a stock of 100 lbs of worms, just for worm casting production alone, If you are planning on being a player in the castings business.
As far as how many worms to sell worms, It would be nice to have a stock of 100 lbs or more, if you get very busy, this # is not very much.
3)Your worm bins 3 by 6 by 2 feet deep are a great size for worm beds, not too big, not too small, A very nice size to work with.
When stocking a worm bed like this,the rule is 1 lb of composting worms to 1 sq ft of surface area in your bin, so the surface area of your 3? by 6? worm bed is 18 sq feet.
So you should be stocking this bed with 18 lbs of worms, If you would like to start slow, I still recommend starting with at least 10 lbs.
4) When are we worm farmers?? haha..
When do you think you are a worm farmer? I think if you have worm beds 3? by 6? you are already a worm farmer,I am sure I have alot of customers with a few pounds of worms calling them selves worm farmers, this is a matter of opinion depending on each individual.
5) I have purchased my original stock from reputable worm farmers, They have been in the business for a long time. I do mix my worms (reds and euros) for casting production only, To keep the worms seperated as to each breed, the 2 breeds need to be a far distance away from each other, along with well made beds to keep the 2 breeds apart. Also another thing to keep in mind is, when making outdoor beds and your plans are to maintain the pure breed of worm, you need to have something between the native worms and the soil that you have just made the bed in, remember your native worms will enjoy eating the bedding you added to your nice pure breed of worms you are going to add to that bed, thus mixing the worms up.
I hope this answers some questions, I would really like to hear back on this one, There are alot of great ideas and methods of worm farming out there, So lets hear your comments
Jeff (The Friendly Worm Guy)
Written by Jeff on August 3rd, 2008 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on About Earthworms and Composting with composting worms and News and Reader Questions and Worm Stories.
