In this post you will see some of my worm beds, and how I harvest my worm castings.
Here is one of my Worm Beds. It is 8′ long 3′ wide, This bed is used for Worm Castings production for the most part. These beds are harvested and rebedded on a monthly bases. The bedding is pre-composted, These beds are housed with Red Wigglers and European Nightcrawlers.
I take the used up Vermicompost and screen it through a 1/4″ screen, which seperates all the larger worms from the small worms and worm cocoons(worm eggs)and the worm castings.At this point the larger worms go back into this same bed to produce Worm Castings and alot of egg cocoons to be harvested again in another month.
In this pic you can see the Vermicompost on the floor after being screened through the 1/4″ screen.
The pile on the floor, as I said before is all the little worms, egg cocoons, and the Worm Castings that were in the 18 cubic ft worm bed.
At this point this pile of vermicompost is left to sit for a week or two before it is moved out to the Old Fanning Mill, to produce the final product (Worm Castings)
Here is the link to my Harvesting video.Over at my Worm Farmer friends website www.redwormcomposting.com.Harvesting Worm Castings
Here is a picture of my Worm Castings after they go through the old Fanning Mill, Bagged up and ready to be sold to you people to make all your plants grow like never before. Check out my PROMO ITEMS at the top of the page.
Written by Jeff on July 21st, 2008 with 5 comments.
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The Slogan (it’s a EUROPEAN you’re A SEEIN’ That’s catchin’ all the FISH!!) Was created by my wife Lorie. In an effort to bring attention to this very NEW to North America, Fishing and composting worm The European Nightcrawler. (Eisenia hortensis)
Mass of European Nightcrawlers(Eisenia hortensis)
I have been raising The European Nightcrawler for 4 years now, In the past 2 years I have raised two breeds, The European N/C and the Red Wiggler (Eisenia fetida).These two breeds mixed in large composting beds work very well at producing quality worm castings, My beds are 8″-12″ in depth, the reds are the top feeders. example ( the reds are composting in the top 3-4″. The Euros are composting from 4-12″ levels of my composting worm beds) Both these breeds work very well on their own as well, at all levels of the composting bins. I have also been told by a number of people, that the Reds will take over the beds( out number the Euros ) over time, I have not seen this happen as of yet, This past spring I would have said those people were right, I had greater #’s of reds and less Euros, In the last month or two now, the euros have came back in big #’s and there is now more euros in the beds then reds. Yes readers now you will think I have just been picking out the reds, this is not the fact. These beds are for producing Worm Castings, I harvest the worm casting and I return the stock of worms from each bed back to their same beds,To compost the new bedding I have just added.
As far as taking care of each breed, All I had read about the euros, and their want to crawl, out of the beds, bins etc. Is wrong in my opinion, I have had alot more problems with the Red Wigglers crawling, then I have ever had with the European N/C. On another note: It is hard to kill Euros, and in the last few years I have found my self a couple of times trying to keep the reds alive. example, The Euros take change in their environments better then the Reds do. I am not sure why the Red Wigglers are still known as the best composting worm in North America. I am sure in the not too far future we will see the European N/C gain alot of ground in the composting field. There is also Millions of Fisherman out there that think the Reds are just not big enough to use for fishing. Where as the European N/C can grow to 5″ very easily, in a composting bin, and close to the size of the Canadian N/C if the Euro has space to grow.
These worms produce quality WORM CASTINGS
Please Check out the Promo I have going at the moment on these quality Worm Castings.
The Friendly Worm Guy
Written by Jeff on July 18th, 2008 with 2 comments.
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WOW! Sure has been awhile since I have been able to write! I have a day or 2 to get a couple posts out before we get into July.
First I will talk about wooden worm bins, Wood worm bins keep worms much cooler then the plastic bins in summer temps.
These bins are now For Sale at Friendly Worm Guy. go to Our Products
Step 1
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Step 5 Complete..
There is also a great post about fighting summer heat over at www.redwormcomposting.com.
Here is the link http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/help-your-worms-beat-the-heat/
Thanks
The Friendly Worm Guy
Written by Jeff on June 30th, 2008 with 3 comments.
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For a while now I have been trying to come up with an upward flow worm bin, that has stacking trays deep enough to bury the food waste, to make the bin work very well! Yes they are all over the internet, I have tried a few. but in almost all the cases, the trays were NOT deep enough to bury the food waste well. on average the trays were only 3″-4″ high. And in turn the bin maybe gets fruit flies etc,
This is a picture with 1 tray added. I will also say, I am not a person that is very good with woodworking, I know how to raise worms! I know what kind of environment the worm needs to live and compost well. so I was able to get a friend of mine to help me build these bins. I told him the way we needed to build it and he did.
First of all my trays are 6″ high, not 3″ or 4″ high. This gives us a whole 2″ higher, yes it doesn’t sound like much but it really is. 2″ is a great deal to bury that food waste properly
This is a picture of the bin complete, with all trays added. I made these bins to put them into our local school board’s classrooms, The reason I added the 2″ to each tray is to make sure these bins will not produce fruit flies, The main concern of the School Board is the fruit flies, These bins will not produce fruit flies, if all food waste is buried properly. In the short future I hope to have one of these bins in all our local schools. if all goes well!!!
Written by Jeff on May 20th, 2008 with 2 comments.
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All our products are GREEN!! Here is a picture and a little about each product that we handle here at the Friendly Worm Guy
This nice 8 oz cardboard cup is what I use as a worm cup, or (container) I sell all my bait worms in this nice paper cup, If the fisherman leaves the container at their fishing spot, It would be all composted by the following fishing season. These cups are made for the food service. it is a hot soup cup. It only took me about 6 months to find this great little cup. I put my worms into it for the fisherman and the cup is great for the Environment TOO!!
These great little muslin/cotton bags are used by us at FWG and by great gardeners.
We fill these little bags with worm castings and we drop the bag into a watering can or pail of water, to make liquid organic fertilizer,CALLED WORM TEA!! to add to your plants in regular watering times.
Watch your plants grow like never before!
These large muslin/cotton bags are used by us at FWG as very large worm tea bags.they work great in a 45 gallon container. But for the most part here, We use them to ship our worms out in.
A pound of worms along with a pound of bedding goes in this bag wonderful, and the worms can breathe through them great.
If you compost this bag after you get your worms,it is composted in a matter of weeks.(not years)
OH!! we can’t forget about my great little tool I made to bag my 1 pound bags of worm castings, this very handy 2 litre pop bottle with a soup can typed to it, makes bagging my worm castings an ease!! isn’t this tool recycling at its best!! haha.
1 more thing! we can’t forget about the way that I ship my worms and products across Canada! every box I use for shipping is recycled, from local stores.
Jeff The Friendly Worm Guy
Written by Jeff on May 20th, 2008 with 1 comment.
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WOW! I sure wish I hadn’t fertilized my huge 400′ X 100′ front yard, with Worm Castings, now that I am waiting for parts to repair my riding lawnmower.
If anyone that is reading this post is looking for a Great Organic fertilizer, too make there lawns grow like never before!! There will be NO greener lawn on the block!!
There is places in the lawn that haven’t been fertilized with Worm Castings for the past 3 years, and the grass is still growing great in those areas. These Worm Castings last for years!!
Written by Jeff on May 13th, 2008 with no comments.
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WOW!! This is a topic we could talk about all day!! Every region of this Great earth of ours has a different predator of the Earthworm!
First of all Man is most likely the greatest predator. Just think about that for a moment.
Examples!
1. Farmers kill Billions of earthworms plowing their fields
2. Then the Farmer comes along and sprays pesticides and Chemical fertilizer to kill the rest of the worms that the plow missed.
3. That is why they need to spray chemical fertilizer so their crop will grow.
OK enough said about the farmers, I am one as well, On my farm there has been no pesticides or chemical fertilizer used for at least 8 years. All plans on my farm is to be organic, example: fertilize with worm tea, and worm castings
We can’t forget about the Fisherman! HaHa! I guess I wouldn’t have much of a business without them!
Even some cultures eat the worms, Of all things. Yuk!
Enough talking about man being a predator, but we sure are a big one!!
Now on to other Predators of the Earthworm.
1. Snakes,birds,
2. Rodents, such as, chipmunks,moles,rats,skunks, racoons, and on and on!
3. A very big number of insects as well..We could go on for ever!!!!
Oh yes! There is even a little worm out there called a Flat worm! They eat earthworms as well.
The reason being is the earthworm is loaded with protein, so it makes the earthworm a very well sought after creature! By all its predators…
The Friendly Worm Guy
Written by Jeff on May 4th, 2008 with 3 comments.
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The Old Vault
The Old Vault Restaurant in Webbwood Ontario (Canada). Makes alot of great coffee and fantastic food. As a result there is alot of organic waste that will feed my worms. I pick up the coffee grounds and filters, along with potato peels, by the pail full.
All my readers don’t need to find a restaurant to feed your worms, with a home vermicomposting bin, you have all the food waste you need to feed your bin. Because I feed alot if worms (hundreds of thousands), I am greatful to find all this organic waste from the Old Vault to feed my worms
Written by Jeff on April 6th, 2008 with 3 comments.
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The older farmers in my area sure gave me some funny looks when I started asking them If they had an Old Fanning Mill hanging around their farms. “What in the world would I want a thing like that for”? . They had not used them since the 1950′s. I heard the story from each, about cranking those old things all day, just to clean that grain so they could plant that years crop. Those machines were hard work, what are you going to do with something like that.
I told them, I was going to try and harvest worm castings with one. I had not even seen one before, but had only heard of them. After harvesting all my worm casting by this point by hand, with a little 1/8″ screen all night to get ready for a garden show the following day, I was ready to try anything.
The Orange one on the left came from the farmer next to me, It was made between 1913-1915, by the Young Brothers of Almonte Ontario,Yes that makes this machine about 95 years old. This unit is the first one I got, it is still operated with the hand crank on the side of the machine.
The red one on the right is one I got at a farm sale, the farmer had sold his farm. When I went and looked at it I was very happy to see what I saw. Someone had put an electic motor on it.
Even though the orange one had a crank on it,and made harvesting the castings much easier. If my hands could be free to handle all the used up bedding I was putting through this machine, I could make alot more finished worm castings in a shorter time. After a few adjustments it works great.
I have made a video of the red one in action! Harvesting Worm Castings
Written by Jeff on March 25th, 2008 with no comments.
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With this first Blog written by me The Friendly Worm Guy.
I have to thank Bentley Christie from Red Worm Composting for this wonderful website.
Without Bentley’s help to make this website, I am sure I wouldn’t have the Friendly Worm Guy website, I had No idea how to make a website. So when Bentley asked if he could help me to make a website, I was, and still am very thankful for Bentley helping get this site rolling. Just in the last 3 weeks I have sold worms throughout Ontario and Quebec. All because of this website.
Thank You very much Bentley for making this online venture. Very exciting!
Jeff Sonnenburg
Written by Friendly Worm Guy on November 27th, 2007 with no comments.
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