Everyone knows you can use worms for
Bait, when fishing
for Bass, Crappie, Brim, Catfish, Trout . . . the
list goes on. This is currently the largest
consumer market today! Bait Shops are everywhere
and there are more fishermen than the current
shops can supply. At present, there is such a large
demand for Red Wigglers, a bait
shop could open nearly every day and never flood
the market. Whether you want to just raise worms for
your own fishing consumption or as a supplier,
red worms have the largest market.
There are thousands of retailers across
the country, who carry Reptiles and/or Birds. Red
worms are one of healthiest things to feed them, because they are
chalk full of Protein! Zoos can also benefit from buying red
worms in bulk.
In some countries, human consumption of worms is a delicacy,
although we can't personally verify it. Research has found that they
fry up quite nicely & are very nutritious, even to humans! You may not use worms for food, but
others do!
For years, farmers have known the incredible
value of having worms in their crop soil. Worms are one of the most
important ingredients for returning the soil back to its rich, fertile
state. With the exceptions of plastics and metals, there is not much
else a worm can't consume. If you want your vegetable
gardens or flower beds to grow rich in fruits/flowers, use
worm castings (soil that has been processed
through worms) or as an additive to mix in your soil. Better
yet, just put worms in the flower bed or garden. It will make a
difference as you can see below!
The pictures below
are of a tomato plant, we planted
as we normally do every spring.
These pictures are of a tomato plant
that was not planted until August 2003,
directly in one of our outside worm pits. The color
& heartiness of this plant is gorgeous!
UPDATE
We took these pictures
on November 21, 2003, a day or two before
we got our first freeze.
Just look at all the FALL
Tomatoes we got!
To view the Lab Results of our
castings for use on home vegetable gardens
We decided to do a little
test of our own! We wanted to visually SEE
the effects Worm Casting, 13-13-13 Fertilizer (most
common) & Animal Manure (cow manure in our test) have on the water we
drink, in order to better understand the impact these materials have on our environment, when they are sprayed
in open crop fields & pastures.
Somewhere down the line, these materials DO get into our water resources!
To read our layman results,
observations & explanations
Vermiculture is a process
by which matter is transformed back into a usable state,
using worms. Soil, for example, is returned
to its rich, fortified state, so flowers
and/or vegetables will continue to grow healthy
and beautiful. Worm castings, the dirt they leave
after eating anything, are just as rich (if not richer) in nitrogen, phosphates,
calcium and magnesium than many of the finest top soils
you can buy. Another use for worms in vermiculture
is garbage. Yes, Garbage! Many states are now recognizing
the value of worms in garbage dumps. As we said earlier,
except for plastics and metals, a worm can consume most anything
else. The castings they leave behind are rich in vitamins
& minerals, NOT the poisons
& toxins most dumps
are currently leaving behind! Each
worm will consume al least half its body weight,
every single day. Using them to recycle garbage
is the best solution for any
land fill. Currently, most landfills pack &
cover our garbage with dirt. Poisons
& Toxins remain in the soil for many years
and eventually, can get into our food/water sources.
Worms, however, consume the garbage and transform it into
rich, non-toxic dirt. They will eat
it all! Start recycling with worms in your neighborhood
or town. Our environment deserves a break today!
It would be hard to find an easier,
more profitable business than growing worms! Go ahead and laugh, but it is
true! They don't bark, meow, chirp, growl or chatter. The only sound you
will ever hear from them is the "Rice Krispy"
crackling they make when they are on top of the beds at night, feeding.
The 2 most important
things to remember when raising worms are:
1) Moisture
2) Temperature
Red worms are not usually crawlers,
like the larger earthworms. You don't have
to keep lights over them at all. We had a couple hundred
Night Crawlers and
guess what? They call them night crawlers for a very good
reason. They Crawl! Even
with a light over them, they went. Where? We haven't
a clue! We have 6 - 18 gal.
plastic containers inside our house, which we are using
to supply enough Night Crawlers
for the local fishermen. They will only be available to visitors
of Magic Wiggler Worm Ranch, because supplies are currently limited.
There are many different sources
for finding out what to use as Bedding. We started
out with Canadian Peat Moss and Rabbit Manure. You can also use sawdust,
shredded paper, manure of any kind or just about
any biodegradable material. If you use manure, only
place it on one side of the pit or preferably,
down the center. Do not cover the whole top!
Otherwise, when it goes through the "heat"
stage, your worms won't have a cool place to go & it will kill
them! NO Plastic
or Metal!
As with the bedding, there
are also many different things you can Feed your worms. Many worm
growers use Chicken Mash or Rabbit/Worm feed, which can
be purchased from many co-ops or feed stores. Some grocery stores
carry chicken mash, as well. Personally, we use old
coffee grounds. Our worms love it! Many places will
be glad to save their coffee grounds for you, if you supply
a trash can for this purpose and pick it up regularly.
Food scraps can also be used, but for
the "worm breeder," this is
NOT recommended!
Food attracts many flies, other insects & creates acid in
the bed. These added creatures will in no way harm
your worms, but some find it annoying when turning
beds, moving stock, feeding, watering or otherwise. Acid
Testers can be bought at most gardening centers &
Lyme from Wal-mart, lightly spread across the top of
the bed once a month or so, will control the acid. We have
also discovered that our breeder worms don't like onions,
lemon or vinegar! Keep in mind that their bedding is
also a source of food for your worms!
If you can work with wood,
you can build your own building and/or Bins. Sizes
and types of bins vary widely, depending on how big you plan
to grow your business and the amount of space you have readily
available. It's pretty much up to you! Some
use wood, as did we; some uses concrete. The most important thing to keep
in mind when designing your bins is Water Drainage!
Your bins should be between 60 & 70% moist at all times!
Your bins should also be between 70 and 80 degrees,
with 78 being the optimum breeding temperature
for red worms. Too much water will kill the babies, but
the adults love lots of water! They tend to grow larger
when the bottom of the pit is mucky. It is best not to let
you beds get over 100 degrees. A light watering will help
reduce the heat. The breeders can
withstand temperatures in both extremes, but they
won't breed much. For extreme cold, you can place
fresh manure down the Center
or to One Side of the bed
and your worms will go close or away as they need
to.
In extreme heat or cold, your
eggs will go dormant, until bed returns to the above stated moisture
& temperature for hatching. Actually,
the eggs can be placed into a freezer, indefinitely.
When placed back in beds at the proper moisture
& temperature, they will hatch as if they had never
been frozen! 
It all sounds complicated and too much
work, but it really isn't. Once the building
and bins are constructed, the rest is history!
Feed and water every 7-10 days as needed, only on top of bins. never
mix food into beds. This can poison your worms and kill
them. Turn beds once a month to promote good,
aeration but always before the next feeding.
Move half of each bin to a new bin
& refill all every 3 months or when over-crowded. You'll know if they
are too crowded, cause they will start wandering around to other bins at
night, when they come to the top to feed.
That's it, until you are ready to start
selling. Build your stock for at least 1 year, before you start selling, to ensure you maintain a good breeding population.
Always keep 1/2 your stock to keep breeding.
Worms are both male & female! They
breed by rubbing against each other and each worm will produce an
egg capsule every7 to 10 days. Every capsule will hatch
4 to 20 worms & it only takes 60 to 90
days before each baby reaches breeding maturity. You do the math!
Every month you will double your stock, at the bare minimum. Thatis
why it is usually a good idea to breed for 1 yearbefore
you start selling. This way, you will maintain a good breeding stock
at all times. Then you will be a bona fide worm grower!
Have Fun!
There are many books & articles
out there, which will help you with everything you need to know about raising
and/or breeding red worms and others. We only raise Red Wigglers. The book we
used as a reference is called "Raising Earthworms
For Profit,"
by Earl Shields. With only 128 pages,
it is well worth the money we spent on it. Get your copy for only $10.00 + $4 shipping. Click title
above to read descriptions of all books they have. Then click
"Order Now" and follow their site's ordering
instructions. If you have internet access, you can find tons of other
information by using the search feature in your web browser. Simply
type in: worms, vermiculture,
fish bait . . . and you will
have all the info you need!
HAPPY
WORMING ! ! !
Webmaster:
Marie Bateman
Webmaster@magicwiggler.com
Copyright
© 2003-2004 Lawrence
Pelletier & Marie Bateman. All Rights Reserved.
