Could this work for raising worms??

Could this work for raising worms? My thoughts are it gets cold in the winter here and I can expect months of sub 40 degree days and many 10's at night in my unheated garage.
Could I get a rubber tote and use my old fish aquarium heater? It has to be in water so I thought I would make a container out of 3"pvc with a cap on the bottom and fill it up with water. I could place it anywhere in the tote and can set the temp from 60 to 90 dredges. It in turn would heat the water and radiate heat into the bedding. I thought a plus might be added humidity. I could make it stick 2" out of the bedding and put some sort of mesh over the open top of the pvc where the cord comes out. It might not heat the whole tote but wouldn't the worms move towards the warmer spot if they get cold?
Second question: Is worm tea a problem with growing worms in a box or will I be emptying the tote out completely and adding fresh bedding regularly enough that it is not an issue?

If this is going to be a huge mess especially during the winter my wife will have a fit.

I just want worms next spring and have totes and newspaper and a aquarium heater laying here and it seems like I should be able to make something out of it. :dono

Get an old freezer and put it in the garage,add manure, peat,soil and blend it. Add water to moisten, add a 40 watt light bulb for heat, stock with worms and feed them vegetable matter from the kitchen. You will have more worms than you will know what to do with by Spring and help with recycling your waste.:cheers2

Thanks for the reply Cricket george,
But I have a very small space and wanted to use materials available to try it out.

Then buy a storage bin at home depot to start your bed

I started mine in one of those motar/cement mixing black tubs you can get a Lowes. They are roughly 3' x 4' x 6" deep. Covered it with a piece of plywood with air holes drilled into it. Without the lid, they will crawl out.

I used to enjoy building model cars, problem was (like you), no room in the living (heated) space, so I built a 5'X10' room from 2X2's and large sheets of cardboard and heated it with a small electric heater. I added scraps of insulation as I could find them.

Something much smaller to house your worm container might work, allowing you to keep them in the garage, and the wife happy. Just be sure there's ample clearance for your heat source.

Raised worms commercially, and sold worms starting other commercial worm farmers. Also sold boxed worms to bait stands to sell.
Your idea will work, but I have always used a simple light bulb to provide heat and the light bulb serves another purpose. The light
keeps the worms from escaping. That being said, if the lights go out, the worms will escape. Now, start the bedding shallow to begin
with. Only takes about 3" of bedding consisting of dried cow manure or horse manure. Cut the manure with 1/2 compost or peat.
If you use 2" of manure, finish with 1" of peat or compost. This will get you started. Yes, the light bulb will dry the bedding, so......
since you have a heating element, use it and fill the pvc with water and keep the bedding wet enough to keep the worms from
dehydrating. If you pick up a handful of bedding and can barely squeeze water from it, it is just about the right amount of moisture.
Start with only one container of worms. Worm of choice was the Hybrid Red Wiggler. The most hardy of all fishing worms. Never change
your bedding because you want the eggs to mature and hatch. Worm eggs look like okra seed and about the same size. There will be
@ 15 to 20 worms per egg, so they multiply rapidly. Feed all worms lettuce, cornbread scraps, green/wet horse or cow manure, and
due to ph factors, never place too many coffee grounds on the bedding. Never mix the food into the bed, always feed on top.
Soaked cardboard will sustain worms easier than any other type of food products, but..........it must be soaked until it is a mush.
Worms thrive on the glue product in cardboard (corrugated only) Solid cardboard will not serve any purpose. Moisture is the most
important issue you will face. In time you will notice the bedding will settle and the worms will actually eat the bedding. Add more
bedding to the top only, mixture as mentioned above. Anything you feed that is green will generate heat in your worm bed. It may
not seem like much, but it does provide some heat. You can have too hot of bed, so regulate as close as possible to 60-80 degrees.
Start small and by the end of the winter, you will have a full aquarium and many, many worms to last you all spring. Worms will work
the bedding from top (while feeding) all the way to the bottom. The moisture will stay on the bottom, and the bedding will always
be cooler on the bottom. That is why it is best not to mix the food into the bedding. Allow the worms to adjust to the temps they
like best. If you ever find worms on the sides of the glass, the bedding is too hot or too wet. If too wet, add dry material to the top
but do not mix into the bedding. Any questions, feel free to ask.
Oh, btw..........never separate two worm knotted together. they tie themselves in a knot to reproduce. All worms have bands around
the neck and this is where the egg comes from. All worms are bi, meaning all worms reproduce, therefore they multiply rapidly.
If anyone can dispute this info, please tell me how many hearts worms have............and I will believe you. No fair looking back to
previous posts.

Worms don't have hearts. Kinda like my ex.

Thank you so much RetiredRR for all the great information!!!

The Hybred Red Wigglers have 7 hearts...........never researched the African Night Crawlers or any of the others for that matter.
Would you believe there was a very huge market at one time for the HRW's in Japan. Protein. And, they were also used by land
fills to eat refuse and leave castings (fertilizer) which was later harvested and sold to nurserys. Back in the 70's, a lot of folks
that lived on dairies were in the commercial worm business, at least in my neck of the woods. Some folks made some money just
raising worms. Thought I'd share that just for educational purposes.

Got the worm bin started up and bought 60 Euro night crawlers from walmart to test it out. I put some pumpkin guts in a corner and 2 days later all the worms are over there eating it up. I kept a gallon of the pumpkins guts and froze it, plus we have 3 carved pumpkins that will state to rot sooner than later.

Question. Is computer paper any good for bedding/food? We have 50 gallon bags full of shredded computer paper at work.

No nutritional value in computer paper.
Corrugated cardboard (glued together) has nutritional value because of the glue.
Pumpkin must be good too, never tried that. Old lettuce is good too. Never use any kind of meat.........never!
Sounds like you got it going...........good luck.

Thanks again RR.

Last question I promise.
How many worms can I have in a 25 gallon container that is about 28x20x18? I ask because if these few live I will buy some in bulk. Thinking something like a pound (300-350) worms if I can have them in the tote.

get a dog house mat heater and i'll do just fine can get at any farm and home center several size

Just a reminder. Worms will multiply rapidly. Reminds me of rabbits (rabbit poop is good to feed worms too) when it comes to multiplying.
If your fishing a lot with worms and need a ready supply, go for a pound. Keep 'em moist and fed and they will grow fast and multiply fast too.

The container you spoke of is small for a pound of worms, unless your using a lot of worms and fishing often. You will have worms of all sizes
in the box, harvest only the largest to fish with. Your on the right path. Hope they do all you want them to do. Ask anytime. Enjoy the
conversation.

Update on my worm ranch. They must be doing okay, been exactly 2 months since I started my rubbermaid tub with 2 containers of Wally-world Eruo nightcrawlers and I'm seeing little worms every now and then. Been feeding them pumpkins and old lettuce. Just added more bedding and the peelings from 3 big potatoes. Occasionally I'll put some chicken feed in and they really love it after a couple of days. I also found our old single size coffee bean grinder and used it to pulverize some egg shells. Don't know if I needed to put the egg shell in or not for pH, but I figured it would not hurt.

Thanks again for all the info you guys gave me.

Yes, it's a good idea to add the pulverized egg shells or any type of calcium carbonate. They need the grit to stay healthy.

I am also just starting my worm bed!I have a large Igloo cooler with some large holes cut in the top and screen wire over the holes to prevent escapes.Ha
I plan on bedding in this manner,Hope it is correct as I am getting European Night Crawlers and in hope to raise some of them here in Tennessee I will be keeping them in the garage out of the sun for sure.
The bedding I am planning is as follows,Alayer of Peat Mossee followed by a layer of Rabbitt Dung and then some ground up newspaper along with ground up cardboard then another layer of peat,etc till I get it about 10 inches deep then cover with wet soaked cardboard, I will be feeeding house stuff as well as a shot of laying mash or corn meal along with some coffe grounds,tea leaves,etc and egg shell ground up. Think that will work??

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Originally Posted by suwanneered

I am also just starting my worm bed!I have a large Igloo cooler with some large holes cut in the top and screen wire over the holes to prevent escapes.Ha
I plan on bedding in this manner,Hope it is correct as I am getting European Night Crawlers and in hope to raise some of them here in Tennessee I will be keeping them in the garage out of the sun for sure.
The bedding I am planning is as follows,Alayer of Peat Mossee followed by a layer of Rabbitt Dung and then some ground up newspaper along with ground up cardboard then another layer of peat,etc till I get it about 10 inches deep then cover with wet soaked cardboard, I will be feeeding house stuff as well as a shot of laying mash or corn meal along with some coffe grounds,tea leaves,etc and egg shell ground up. Think that will work??

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Sent you a message. What your going to feed them looks great, just remember no meat, peppers, onions. Also start out feeding to little instead of to much. Peat moss is a filler only, no nutritional value and a low pH.

Pre-soak your peat moss. That's what I did when I statred my bed three years ago.

HI: Yes I have my bed already for the worms which I expect to get here tomorrow.I only odered 1/2 lb to see how it goes and if I can raise them.If not I will dump them in the garden.Ha

I too am planing on starting a bin of red wigglers for both garden fertilizer and gill fishing. I was planning on putting it in the basement for now as I didn't think the garage would sustain them in the winter. That's a good idea about the fish tank heater. One question, where are you guys getting your worms. I would think shipping in the winter could be bad?

Hi: I order my Nightcrawlers from WWW>Hall's wormery.com which is in Texas.They will not ship if temper is below freezing on thier end or yours.They shipped mine Tuesday and I got them Thursday and all were alive and have already gone down in the bedding.They said wait afew days before feeding to allow them to get used to the new place and bedding.Guess they will make some tunnels,etc.They are really nice to do business with and fair price also.

Thanks I will check them out, it's warm here now, which is not the norm. We went from the teens and snow to 50s this week.

I got my Euros from Halls Wormery as well. Good folks there.

I think I may need to try my hand at this!

HI Sawdust: Well come on in the waters warm!Ha I am have a little fun with this project.
I hope I am sucessful in raising a few worms.All of the ones Hall's shipoped were alive and went under the bedding so I guess that is ok. I did put a small batch of lettuce on thew top of the bedding in case they are hungry from the long trip.

suwanneered, Do not feed them any more until that is gone. It might take a week for them to settle in and start feeding. You do not want the food to start smelling because they are not eating it fast enough, yet.

Thanks for thre feeding tip!I had a piece of wet cardboard over them but got to thinking they might not get enough air so removed it.Hall's wormery recommend 3 to 4 sheet of wet newspaper I must get some of that I had some but it wasn't black and white.No colored ink is recommended.Bill

Well my euro crawlers are doing great. Here is my newest question. Come summer how do I keep them alive? I have an attached garage. Do you think it will stay cool enough? No HVAC vents out there. I've been surprised that it has been consistently 50 degrees almost all winter in there so i wonder what the temp will be come summer. I also have an area behind my tool shed that is covered by a large old oak tree. The area would be shaded 90% of the day. From what I've read the worms can live up to about 80 degrees and it will get up into the 90-100 range here in KY once summer comes.
Worst case is that I'll just restart in the fall. I just have enjoyed raising these worms.

Yeah I know I really need to get a life!!!:fish

Mine do fine during the summer here in South Louisiana in the shade outside.

Another question,what yall feeding your worms?

Hi: Well I have had my worms for a bout 6 weeks and I feed them plain corn meal,I got at Wally world.Just don't get the corn meal mix,they have just corn meal with no additives.
I have also fed some potato peeling after cooking the to make them soft.They really like egg shells.I got some at my local coffee shop and boiled them and then put them in a blender and ground them up as fine as I could.
I am wondering what to do after about 6 months ?Should I make new bedding and remove the worms from the old and start anew?I am not sure what is next?????

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Another question,what yall feeding your worms?

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Believe or not, Purina Worm Chow. The feed store ordered it for me. It has the right stuff it, and a bag lasts a long time.

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I am wondering what to do after about 6 months ?Should I make new bedding and remove the worms from the old and start anew?I am not sure what is next?????

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Remove the worm castings. They will be very dark in color and in hard clumps. Excellent stuff for gardens and potted plants. You can also put some clumps in water to make a "worm tea" for watering plants as well.

After removing the castings, replace what you took out with fresh peat moss/manure. Your worms will be fine. Good luck.

Bullfrog, I froze several cut up pumpkins and have been feeding them wedges about once a week. They destroy it! I also bought a 4 pound bag of Chicken crumbles and sprinkle it on top about every other week and then spray water on it . It goes fast as well. Egg shell pulverized it great. They eat it and it neutralizes the Ph level in the bin. They also are eating a lot of brown cardboard that I tore up into pieces. Old lettuce does good also but not cabbage so much. If it is a vegetable either freeze it of boil it to soften it up. I put potato peels in raw and they took forever and started to stink up the garage.

read all the info i could find on worms, got about 250 and put them in a mixture of peat and potting soil, put worm food on top but didn't cover and i think most of them have abandoned ship. Hope to start over in a large igloo cooler will keep the present one to see if any eggs hatch. have a lot of questions and will ask as they come to mind. Thanks for all the info.--shu

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Originally Posted by shuorc

read all the info i could find on worms, got about 250 and put them in a mixture of peat and potting soil, put worm food on top but didn't cover and i think most of them have abandoned ship. Hope to start over in a large igloo cooler will keep the present one to see if any eggs hatch. have a lot of questions and will ask as they come to mind. Thanks for all the info.--shu

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Had mine since October 2012. They are going great. Some advice for your next bin. No potting soil, no peat moss. Mine started as 90% shredded black and white newspaper, no color print. 9% torn up brown cardboard, they eat the glue in the cardboard. 1 scoop of garden dirt to get some microbes in the bin faster but is really not needed because the worms bring microbe with them.

Peat moss: the worms cannot eat it and it changes the Ph of the bin and can run your worms off.
Potting soil: just makes you bin heavier.
Soak you shredded newspaper and the squeeze it out until it does not drip. Then sort of fluff it back up and put it in your bin about 5 inches deep.
Tear up some cardboard and mix it in with the wet newspaper, it will soak water from the newspaper.
Put some food on one end of your bin in a strip about 3 inches wide and spray it with the bottle of distilled water to moisten it and cover the food and bedding with a piece of cardboard.
After about a week check to see if your newspaper still feels moist, spray if needed and add your worms to the top. They will work their way in and will start to eat in about another week. Got to keep a tight cover on the bin. I have 2 1/4" holes drilled in the top and 1/16" or smaller holes drilled all around the sides below the top about 2-3 inches apart and a row of the small holes all the way around the sides about 2" up from the bottom. I have 4 holes drilled in the bottom using the smallest drill bit I could find about 1/16" so any excess water can drip out.

I use a plant spray bottle to moisten down the bin when it needs it.Use rain or distilled water or
I bought some aquarium water treatment that de-chlorinates tap water and use that now instead of distilled water. Little bottle cost 2-3 bucks and will treat something like 100 gallons. A gallon will last a month for spraying so the little bottle will last forever.

I started with 60 and probably have 300+ now!

ANTS so had to change boxes this afternoon. will change again later, not many worms left so will redo everything this week.--shu

I really liked all of the great info on raising worms. I got an old ref last year for the purpose of building a worm bed. Hopefully this year I will be able to get it done. :cheers2

My father had always wanted to own a bait shop. When he passed a couple of weeks ago I noticed that he had bought the stuff to do sinkers with and also had a little bit of information down on a worm farm. We had talked about doing one but never did. Well a few days after he passed my wife and I started a small one in a large Rubbermaid bin. I think the bin is about 25" long, 15" wide and 17 inches tall. We started out with a bunch of b&w IRS forms from last year, my wife works at a library, some soil we found at a local organic nursery and several pieces of soaked newspaper in the bottom of the bin. I drilled 3/32" holes about two inches down from the side in a couple of rows all the way around the bin spaced about 1 1/2" apart. I did the same on the top of the lid and the bottom to allow excel water to drain. We placed the wet newspapers on the bottom, then added about half a shredder full of shredded forms, then covered with the soil that we found at the nursery. The soil was some discard that they had from several plantings and I noticed worms in it. I paid two bucks for the soil then bought a large open bag of compost for another 8 dollars. We have not added the compost yet. I also started out with two boxes of the red worms from wally world. So far they seem to be doing well. Thanks for the tip about not covering the food up. I had been doing that but no more. I also liked the tip about wet cardboard. I will try and keep folks posted on how well they do or don't do. One last question, How many worms is that bin safe to use for? Thanks, Bobo