What is the best way to store nightcrawlers for an extended period of time I never can get full use out of a container
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What is the best way to store nightcrawlers for an extended period of time I never can get full use out of a container
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In the fridge if the wife dont care. And keep the dirt moist and no chlorinated water. Dump them out every 10 days to make sure their's no dead worms, a dead worm causes a gas that will kill the other worms.
I just take couple out the container and cut them up and drop them in cornmeal just like you would to batter fish.The cornmeal acts like a preservative and you don't have to keep them cold.This way you don't have to move the container from outside to inside all the time, so they live longer.Quote:
Originally Posted by thabugman
I was told by my grandfather years ago to put a pinch of cornmeal in with the worms and keep them in the fridge. I have been doing this for years and have kept them for 4-5 months at a time in the original container, with the original dirt.
I buy 100's of night crawlers at one time. I utilize a 30 qrt cooler. I take all crawlers out of original packaging/dirt. I clean them off if necessary. I prepare one full bag of worm bedding purchased at a local store. Place in a layer of bedding, then crawlers, then bedding, then crawlers. I utilize a commercial worm food product (very similar to corn meal). I replace the food when it is gone.
I never put half crawlers back in with the original guys. Sick looking crawlers go in the garden. I have a refrigerator in my garage that I keep the cooler in and can keep them throughout the entire spring all the way until fall. You can also store them in a nice cool basement.
I have also seen old chest freezers buried in the ground, filled with good soil, and packed to the gills with crawlers. Those jokers will last for years.
:ThumbsUp
I use a big plastic non opaque storage bin with small holes (the more the better) drilled in the top, sides and bottom! The bin stays on my garage floor. I can keep 500+ in each of my bins and I feed them coffee grounds, ground egg shells, ground oatmeal and corn meal. My bedding is peat moss and I always keep moist sheets of cardboard w/no ink covering the top. The cardboard will keep your worms cool during the summer and is a great food for the worms. If summer Temps get over 85°f I will put a frozen plastic Gatorade bottle in the bin to keep the worms cool and will put a new one in when I feed them the next day. If I smell a dead one I will try to find and remove it and if I find more than a few dead I will replace the bedding. All my worms are caught in my back yard and will dump the old bedding back in my back yard or garden. The key to this whole thing is oxygen and not having your peat moss too wet. I mix the moss in a big plastic tub with rain water or I will use hose water and de chlorinated it with the stuff you get from the pet store for fish. Mix the moss and water and let it sit overnight! The next day I will dump my crawlers on a tarp, separate the worms and clean the bin thoroughly and fill it with the new moss. When you fill, take a soft ball size portions of the moss and squeeze out the water until little drops are coming out and toss it into the bin and fill it 1/2 way with moss put worms on top, put the wet cardboard over and put the top on securely. I won't feed them for about a week when I first put them in the box and never feed them more than they can eat in one day. If you dump the worms to get air in the moss or take worms out for fishing, make sure not to get any food mixed in to your bedding. The worms will only eat the food of the top of the moss and will be poisoned by the rotting food and die if it's mixed in your bedding. If I know I'm going to be taking out a few dozen and need to dump the bin, I will not feed them for a few days to keep my bedding clean!
A tip I learned from a book years ago-
Fatten your crawlers up before use!
Damp newspaper layered over the worm bedding, with a little weight on the lid to compress it onto the bedding, helps force feed crawlers moisture.
You can also put crawlers in a bucket of ice water in the fridge overnight. They don't drown as long as the water is 42-45 degs or so. Its a quick way to have MUCH fatter, tastier looking crawlers in a short period of time.
Seriously. Try it! Cold cold water, dunk the worms over night in fridge. They suck up moisture and are much, much bigger in 24hrs.
I keep them in a homemade worm bed, had these since the first of the year, I lightly feed them once a weak with either coffee grounds or green leaf matter like cabbage or lettuce or strawberry leaves, they are about 200 in my container.
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I use last years potting soil that has been depleted of nutrients from what ever was growing in it and yard leaves on top to keep them in the dark. Other than feeding them that's all I do.
I use my old cooler I used before I retired,feed them coffee grounds,then cover them with damp newspaper.Since it's getting warm now,I put an ice pack in once a week,it cools everything down,and they seem to like it.