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Worm Farm to get casting

moyboy

moyboy

For my next growing season, I want to try and go as natural as possible with the nutrients i feed my plants, (not just my chilli plants) so i'm looking into starting a worm farm to collect the 'casting' that is produced.....

I know you have to have a specific type of composting worm for the farm, and other then that, I'm still trying to learn about it....

Does anyone know about worm farms? Are their ready to use starter kits out there for the lazy man???

Once you get the farm started, where do you set it up? in the sun or the shade? Indoors or out?

To many questions...:lol:



I'm also seting up a plastic 44 gallon drum with a tap at the bottom that is filled via my houses gutter drain pipes, and will be used to mix chicken poo in the water.....

I think the chicken poop water mixed with a small amount of worm casting every few weeks will be the bomb......
 
I'm looking at getting something like this....and they deliver it to my door!!!

Worm farm

I sent them an email to find out on average, how much casting is produced on a weekly basis??
 
moyboy said:
I'm looking at getting something like this....and they deliver it to my door!!!

Worm farm

I sent them an email to find out on average, how much casting is produced on a weekly basis??
Click to expand...

Hey MoyBoy,
I got the Can O Worms about a month ago from Bunnings, $74 bucks, they also had a 1000 worms for around $45.00, I got both from there, then about 1 week later I ordered another 1000 worms delivered from Kizan for $35.00
Its real easy to start up, instructions are include, no smells, mine's setup in the Garage for now
 
I too want one but will probably make it myself, i have all the materials laying around the workshop. The size of Neils pods are bloody huge and he uses worm tea.
 
JungleRain said:
Hey MoyBoy,
I got the Can O Worms about a month ago from Bunnings, $74 bucks, they also had a 1000 worms for around $45.00, I got both from there, then about 1 week later I ordered another 1000 worms delivered from Kizan for $35.00
Its real easy to start up, instructions are include, no smells, mine's setup in the Garage for now
Click to expand...

thanks for the info mate.....Do you know how much byproduct is made from the worms. i.e. casting?????
 
What I did was get a big rubbermade tote when it was on sale. I recently saw knock-offs for $3.98. I drilled holes in the lid, and the sides with a regular drill bit. I took two weeks worth of junk mail and sales flyers and then shred them by hand. Then soak them in water for a minute then, wring out the water. That makes about three inches of bedding. Add two pounds of red wigglers. Toss in left over food scraps in a different corner each feeding. After a while add more wet junk mail. Never let it get really soaky, just damp. You may have to add a few drops of water from time to time. After 8 months I had about three gallons of compost.
 
I'm using the can-o-worms too after speaking to Neil, best thing ever. The fact you can rotate the tiers is the benefit of the can-o-worms.

I get about 2 litres of worm tea a week, I also add a hand full of garden lime a week to sweeten things up, and since doing that, it really has an earthy smell, where as at the beginning it didnt smell that good at all.
 
Thanks for the info guys......

I'm pretty sure i'm going to go with the can O worms for the ease of it....:lol:
 
I just started worm farming again so I thought I'd revive this thread with a question.
Well I've read not to add much spicy or acidic foods to the worm farm, but what does a worm consider spicy or acidic. So far they seem to be loving the pile of rotten tomatoes and some jalapeno scraps I fed them but I think I'll probably try to mix things up next time and maybe avoid chiles.

And how's everyones worm farms doing? Any tips or suggestions?
 
Sadly I didn't get around to doing this, and probably a good thing as I have just been to busy over the last few months....
 
POTAWIE said:
I just started worm farming again so I thought I'd revive this thread with a question.
Well I've read not to add much spicy or acidic foods to the worm farm, but what does a worm consider spicy or acidic. So far they seem to be loving the pile of rotten tomatoes and some jalapeno scraps I fed them but I think I'll probably try to mix things up next time and maybe avoid chiles.

And how's everyones worm farms doing? Any tips or suggestions?
Click to expand...

NOT good for farm are things like:

Onion
Garlic
citrus
dairy (butter and cheese)
meat
fish
fat and bones.

If you get a maggot problem, place a piece of bread on top, they will be attracted to it the next day rip the bread out, and most should come with it.
 
chilliman said:
NOT good for farm are things like:

Onion
Garlic
citrus
dairy (butter and cheese)
meat
fish
fat and bones.

If you get a maggot problem, place a piece of bread on top, they will be attracted to it the next day rip the bread out, and most should come with it.
Click to expand...

You can also add to the list:
Hot peppers, hot curries, black pepper, horseradish, and other spicy foods
Starchy foods(bread, pasta, rice, potatoes)
Acidic foods(pickles, pineapple etc.)
 
I have a vermiculture / worm compost bin on the go myself. I'm using red wigglers obtained from the Worm Firm in Nova Scotia. I started with about 1/2 lb of worms and I'm into my second week with them. Hopefully I can feed them well enough (family of 6 here) to multiply greatly and give me lots of nice worm castings to use next season.

So far I've fed them banana, apple, and carrot peels, as well as some chopped up brocoli stalks. My bedding is made from shredded news paper (black print only) and I've mixed in some ground egg shells.

This is is a lab component to an online / distance education course I'm taking from Nova Scotia Agriculture College. The course is Principles of Organic Horticulture and is part of an Organic Agriculture certificate program. I'm taking this to support my love of chile peppers. :)

By the way, another thing you shouldn't feed them is potato skins (at least without freezing them first). These will actually start to sprout in your bin. If you must use them just freeze them first they will die.

moyboy said:
Do you know how much byproduct is made from the worms. i.e. casting?????
Click to expand...

Under optimal conditions red wigglers or european nightcrawlers can eat up to half their body weight in food per day. I guess they would produce almost as much in castings.

However the food you add to your bin needs to start to break down before the worms can process it but once things get rolling it should be good.
 
Another thing you may want to leave out as much as possible is seeds since they won't be digested and they will still germinate when you use the vermicompost
 
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