Ok, here goes another inexperienced question. I have noticed alot of people talking about worms. I know that you can put them in your compost pile to help there, but what about the ones I hear people talking about "raising" in rubbermaid containers? What do they do with these? Do you transfer them to your compost pile later? I guess what I would like to know is what is the difference between having them in your compost pile, or in rubbermaid tubs? What all do you use them for? What makes you decide how to raise them? Is one way preferred over the other? Why? My DH is looking into us getting some and I appreciate all of your help! Lisa B.

-- Lisa B. (j5diecast@aol.com), October 13, 2001

Answers

Under the current threads, go to Older Messages (by category), then down to the category for Vericulture (Worms). Should be information there to help you.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 13, 2001.

I have my bin collection set up in a progressive consumption linear fashion now so that every day I have harvestable castings and herd cultivation additions to my worm stock. As organic waste increased during this last season , I added extra bins to the line. This winter I intend to reduce my bin quantity to just enough to handle kitchen wastes and use the surplus worms as garden stock or chicken feed supplement to the family I barter eggs from. Come spring ,I'll cultivate the herd back to the numbers they are now. I found that using a bin is much more efficient if you add an aeration tube across the length of the bottom of the bins in addition to side panel ventilation to afford better oxygenation of the bedding. This not only keeps the worms healthier, it also reduces the development of red worm mites, which can deter the worms from feeding and allow anarobic decomposition to take over and result in death of the worm stock. You can eliminate any stray sprouts in your bin by use of an old crock pot to cook the scraps before feeding to kill any germinatable seeds and then let it sit open and cool and rebuild benificial bacteria content for 24 to 48 hours before mixing it with bedding material,composted manure, peat moss or zeolite clay for moisture reduction before feeding to the worms.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 13, 2001.

Forgot to add to the above answer, an excelent book is "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Apelhoff (www.wormwoman.com) and a couple other informative sites are www.magicworms.com and www.squirmy-worms.com.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 13, 2001.