What is the best way to get started worm farming.?

Answer 1

Here are some recomendations from

http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2101/Default.aspx

Here is what you need to get started:
Container of wood or plastic. We use a sturdy plastic container that is about 7 inches deep, 9 inches wide and 14 inches long. The measurements are not real critical. This just happens to be an easy size for us to keep around the office and carry to presentations. If you are going to keep your worm farm inside, you will want it to be water tight. The worms are going to be happier when kept in the dark. (Kind of like some folks around here.) If your container is clear, wrap it with newsprint or place it in a cabinet or a opaque container to seal out the light. Make sure that the place you find to store the bin is away from vibrations. Worms will try to pack their bags and move to better digs if they are too near a source of vibration.
Worms. We really suggest that you use red worms. They are also called red wrigglers or manure worms. Do not use earthworms or night crawlers. They just are not cut out to do this job.

Bedding material. Start with some shredded newspaper, moistened, not wet. Use the black and white pages. The classified ads are good, as are the stock market reports. Don't use the colored ad pages, it just makes the worms want to go shopping and you want them to stay in your box and convert the vegetable scraps. Add a couple of handfuls of garden soil, not potting soil, and a couple of crushed egg shells. Keep the bedding damp but not sopping. The moisture helps them to breathe, but too much water will drown them.

Food. You can feed your worms fruit and vegetable scraps and starchy scraps, like bread, oatmeal, and pasta. You can even feed them grits if they are southern worms, like ours. Do not feed them too much acidic foods, like citric fruits, coffee ground and tea bags. They do best with a pH between 7 & 8. You can use egg shells to balance the effects of coffee grounds, orange and lemon peels. Make sure that the eggshells are cooked before adding them to the worm farm. If they are not from boiled eggs, you can cook them by putting them in a cup of water in the microwave. Never feed your worms meat, poultry, dairy products, or salty food , like potato chips. These will create odors and attract insects. Your worms will eat about half their body weight each day. Take this into consideration when you are deciding how much food to add to the bin.

Worms require oxygen so keep the lid partially open to allow air to circulate. You should also turn the bedding with a trowel periodically to improve air circulation in the farm.

Worms will function very well at room temperature. Keep the farm temperature between +40 degrees F and +85 degrees F. Remember that heat will build up quickly in the farm if it is left in the sunlight.

Red worms reproduce often. Small, oval shaped cocoons in the bedding indicate that nature is taking its course. Cocoons may contain several baby worms and will take several weeks to hatch. Watch for tiny white worms. Poultry egg shells added to the bedding will provide calcium the worms need to reproduce. Don't worry about red worms taking over the estate, their population is limited by the size of their environment.

Farming worms:
Place the damp shredded newspaper with the garden soil and crushed egg shell in the container. Don't pack it down. Add the worms to their new home. If you leave the lid off and the light on, it will encourage the worms to investigate the new digs. Don't forget to add some worm food before you move the bin into the dark. You know you can get real hungry after the lights go out. Don't worry if hard foods don't disappear right away. They will have to soften through natural decay before the worms can eat them.
Do not over feed the worms. Overfeeding can lead to odor problems. As your worm population increases, you can add more food per day. Burying the food in the damp newspaper will keep mold from growing in the worm farm.

If your bedding is too wet, add some dry bedding, leave the cover off for a few days, or carefully drain the water off. If it is too dry, add some cool water and leave the farm loosely covered.

Soon you will notice an increase in the worm castings in your worm farm. This makes a great natural fertilizer. And all it cost you was a little time and some stuff that you were going to toss in the garbage.

When you see that bedding is no longer identifiable, you will want to harvest. Worms cannot survive in their own waste. Now if you are raising worms, you harvest the worms. We harvest the castings. The choice is yours.

Some folks sort the worms out of the castings and put the worms in fresh bedding. We have other things to do with our time and prefer a split harvest method. It helps if you have trained your worms ahead of time for this harvest method. To train your worms, you start feeding them at only one end of the bin. Do this for about a week. (Worms learn pretty fast.) Now take the bedding/castings out of the end of the farm where you were not feeding them and add it to your plants or garden. You will be removing about half to two thirds of the bedding/castings in this step. You will lose some worms, but those were the ones that were not very smart. Remember you trained the others. Place the remaining bedding/castings in a container while you scrub the bin and fix new bedding. Prepare this bedding the same way you did the first time, damp newspaper, crushed egg shells, and a handful of dirt. Now add the worms you trained, castings and all onto the fresh bedding. Feed and you are back in business. I have found that the worms will move out of the old bedding in a couple of days. If you want a cleaner farm, you can remove the old bedding in a few days.

We really hope you enjoy your worm farm and we would love to hear from you at [e-mail].

Remember you can learn more about composting, raising worms, and vermiculture by going to your local library.

Answer 2

Build a three foot wide by five foot long box out of two by six lumber. Cover one side with a piece of solid quality plywood. Place the box in a shady place right on top of the dirt.

Fill with top soil or a commercial potting soil mixture, and head out to your yard. Dig up a dozen or so worms and lay them in your new soil box.

Viola' , you are now in the worm farming business.

Build more if you business takes off.

Good luck.

Answer 3

This is a great article about what you are getting into.. the ups and downs.. etc...:
http://www.newfarm.org/features/0903/worms/index.shtml

Great quote: "start small, experiment, and -- of course -- think like a worm." Remember that worm farming requires a lot of time and effort. Fun for a hobby, hard for a job.

Also here is great stuff to help you get started:
http://www.safecom.org.au/wormfarm.pdf
http://www.abc.net.au/creaturefeatures/make/wormfarm.htm
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/envirom/wormfarm.htm
http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2101/Default.aspx
http://www.joondalup.wa.gov.au/cms/fileDisplay.asp?file=966
http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/ho/2000/sp0026.pdf
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/ca_playground/article/0,2041,DIY_13723_2270168,00.html

Use this site for tips:
http://www.wormfarm.com/

I haven't signed up for this but it also may be of use:
http://www.wormfarmingsecrets.com/

Figuring out the perfect feed and combination for your worms is going to be your challenge. You can also feed you worms a slice of bread every once in a while they love it. :)

Hope this has been a help and good luck.

Answer 4

I knew a man who fished a lot and grew his own worms in a casket ( don't know where he got that, though). He bought a container of red wigglers from a bait shop to start. He used good, rich potting soil and added grass clippings, leaves, coffee grounds from time to time. He also had to make sure it stayed moist but not wet. You will not want them in your room. Outdoors in a shady area is best. The dirt has a dank, musty smell.

Answer 5

You recieved a really outstanding answer on worm farming from Supastremph...the first person to answer your question. (Whew, saved me from a lot of typing! ~lol~)

The only other thing I would add is that worms can do really well under rabbit cages. We keep our worm bins in our bunny barn, under the cages of the rabbits. Worms love bunny poop You can still toss in your families compostables, even if you keep them under a rabbit hutch.

~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 6

Go to the library and check out; "worms eat my garbage" or go buy it at a book store.

Answer 7

Call your local extension service--offered through your state landgrant university. There will be one in each county (or parish). They will be able to direct you to publications specific to the market and environment you are in.