I did it, I finally built myself a worm box. I had a cat litter bucket sitting in the basement, I drilled some air holes in the lid, and around the rim, and a few in the bottom for drinage. I also had an old plastic basket that it fit nicely into to catch any liquid that might drain out. I have everything I need to go in it, except the red worms that I plan to put in. Anyone know how long it will take for them to start producing more worms? I figured I would start with a couple dozen and see how they do.
Finally built a worm box
- Thread starter muddler6
- Start date
GardeNerd
Deeply Rooted
That sounds like a neat set up that shouldn't take up a lot of space.
Mine are in my compost bin. I don't have a separate worm bin, but the compost is literally crawling at times. I don't know exactly how long they take to multiply, but it seems like about a month and I am back up to where I was before removing them. I occasionally sell quarts of redwiggers in compost on craigslist when I have a large surplus for $5.
Here is a pic of my red wigglers in unfinished compost:
Mine are in my compost bin. I don't have a separate worm bin, but the compost is literally crawling at times. I don't know exactly how long they take to multiply, but it seems like about a month and I am back up to where I was before removing them. I occasionally sell quarts of redwiggers in compost on craigslist when I have a large surplus for $5.
Here is a pic of my red wigglers in unfinished compost:
GardeNerd
Deeply Rooted
I forgot to mention. I had never thought of selling them until I saw a post for someone looking for them on craigslist. I ended up meeting another local chicken lady when I responded to the post, and we are friends now. After that, I sell worms when I feel like it, have too many yogurt containers, or just feel like playing in the compost one day.
Maybe try craigslist before spending $ on ebay or a catalog company. Just make sure they are one of the red wiggler species like Eisenia fetida or Eisenia fetida andrei. Some folks might try to give you regular earth worms like Lumbricus rubellus; make sure they are red if they don't know the species or ask to see their bin or compost.
Have fun!
Maybe try craigslist before spending $ on ebay or a catalog company. Just make sure they are one of the red wiggler species like Eisenia fetida or Eisenia fetida andrei. Some folks might try to give you regular earth worms like Lumbricus rubellus; make sure they are red if they don't know the species or ask to see their bin or compost.
Have fun!
smom1976
Garden Ornament
I am feeling a little discouraged about my worm box.. I think they all crawled out.. and I was giving them food regularly..
I did have this little problem with what looked like a small I mean very small.. (about a cm or less) cross between a worm and catipillar... looking dark brown black looking thing crawling all in the dirt.. I did end up with tomato horn worms.. but I always had these things too.. and I didnt know how to kill those without killing the worms :/
I really want to do worms.. and I have two bins all ready for them.. I did it really neat.. I used the drawers from those plastic rolling carts.. I had a broken cart with extra drawers.. so inbetween my garden beds... I dug a holeand put cinder blocks on each end and as seperation in the middle of the two boxes.. placed the boxes in the holes with holes in the bottom for drainage.. then placed decking boards over them using the cinderblocks for support.. with them being underground it kept them from getting too hot.. great idea just didnt fly..
I did have this little problem with what looked like a small I mean very small.. (about a cm or less) cross between a worm and catipillar... looking dark brown black looking thing crawling all in the dirt.. I did end up with tomato horn worms.. but I always had these things too.. and I didnt know how to kill those without killing the worms :/
I really want to do worms.. and I have two bins all ready for them.. I did it really neat.. I used the drawers from those plastic rolling carts.. I had a broken cart with extra drawers.. so inbetween my garden beds... I dug a holeand put cinder blocks on each end and as seperation in the middle of the two boxes.. placed the boxes in the holes with holes in the bottom for drainage.. then placed decking boards over them using the cinderblocks for support.. with them being underground it kept them from getting too hot.. great idea just didnt fly..
- Thread starter
- #5
Well I added some worms yesterday, and I found about a dozen that had crawled out and died. What the heck did I do wrong? There seemed to be some moisture inside the bucket, no sure if it was from condensation or them crawling up the side of the bucket, but I added some potting soil I had sitting around to reduce the moisture and give them some dry stuff to move around in if they thought the dirt and newspaper may be too damp. Any suggestions?
Texan
Garden Ornament
There are sites that dicuss raising worms and if it is ok with the moderators here I can direct you to a worm forum. I am going to make the leap this week and buy a few pounds of wormsmuddler6 said:
Purple Strawberry
Garden Ornament
Does anyone know if you can just buy some worms and throw or place them in your garden or do you have to do anything special.
- Thread starter
- #8
After another round of escapees, I put them in the middle of a new compost pile (that wasn't frozen solid). I guess I made some of the holes too large. I may try again this spring when itwarms up, and keep a worm box outside.
Catalina
Garden Ornament
If your worms are running away it could be one of 4 things.
1. Too wet.
2. They ran out of food.
3. Too hot.
4. Too much worm poop in the box. Worms don't like to be in their poop. They move around eating and leaving the waste behind.
1. Too wet.
2. They ran out of food.
3. Too hot.
4. Too much worm poop in the box. Worms don't like to be in their poop. They move around eating and leaving the waste behind.
Purple Strawberry
Garden Ornament
Please let us know how that goes.Texan said:
