History Channel Special on Worm Castings

When Neglect Is Good

I love to harass my worm bins. I figure they are mine to harass, so I do. I like to see how they are doing, how the food is decomposting, and to generally be the busy-body nosy pest as they have come to know me to be. It's my way to learn and to be a better worm farmer. I am sure they don't mind, at least there has been no verbal protest as of yet.

I also like to scan the Internet and see what others are finding. I found a great web page on daily maintenance. It was published by the Trinity Ranch Worm Farm owner. (Article).

Within the article I found a cool list of 5 things that worms need to thrive:
Air, Water, Decaying organic matter (OM), Time and the big one, Neglect.

I have found that the bins that I leave alone, do just as well as my favorite ones I like to harass, if not better. I've noticed that when the outside air temperature was hovering in the single digits this winter and I knew the heaters were on by the signal light I could see form the back window, and I decided to not venture outside for a couple of days- the worms were just fine with it.

I've noticed when I don't bother my inside bins for a couple of days- they don't mind either. Apparently as long as I give them enough munchies, they don't miss me at all.

Lesson learned- Don't sweat it! Take some time off. Leave town for the weekend. Stay inside and keep warm. As long as they have what they need (which is not generally you)- they'll be fine. Neglect is more than OK with them- it's preferred!

Chemical Fertilzer Vs. Natural Fertilizer

I found this article some time ago and it answers a lot of the questions that I had about the differences between Natural and chemical fertilizers. (Article).

Since the snow is quickly melting back in my neck of the woods, it is time to focus on the lawn once again and I thought others may appreciate the info as well as I do.

I do think the important thing to keep in mind, and it is said at one point in the article: Nature is slow moving. Don't expect fast results, just better.

Worm Grunting

Having a "Ball" with the Worms

It is always fun to count your worms when you first get them, or your first sorting. But how many worms do you have when you are 3, 6, 12 months down the road? Count them? You would have to be nuts!

How did the worm farm from which you first bought them sell them to you? By the pound. I suggest you count the same. Next time you are sorting and have nothing else to do, use the light and separate method.

Make a pile of castings or bedding (if you are really bored and just want to do something and are not ready to harvest). Place a bright light over it and then start systematically removing the top bedding and allowing the worms to dig deeper.

Eventually you will end up with a Ball O' Worms. The sound they make when they are slithering in the ball is kind of cool! Now, simply place the ball on a small kitchen scale and weigh them. If you only have a small 1 pound food scale, separate the ball into smaller groups and weigh them separately. You know, you do the math.

Once you have a grand total of the worm ball times it by 1500 for reds, 1000 for African or European Nightcrawlers, or any other "worms/pound" number you might find on a worm farm site.

And Voila! You have you worm population. I don't think you need to do your entire worm bin or bins either. Do a fair sample and times it.

It doesn't matter how accurate you are. The worms are only as many as they are. Bad math or faulty scale won't increase or decrease their number. It's just fun to be able to "see" the increase of your original group. Besides, someone at some time will ask you how many worms you have- be prepared with a somewhat real number.

Exaggerate to your friends, be conservative in your food allotment and you should be fine.

Happy Counting!

Just Add Worms

Once you have the hang of things, if you have too much too that the worms cannot eat or you are not generating enough castings- Just add worms.

You cannot hurry biology. The vermies can only eat so much, they can only "cast" so much, they can only reproduce so much. Wishing they would be faster is only a wish.

However... two pounds of worms will do it twice as fast as one pound. Four pounds will do it four times as fast, etc. etc. etc....

I know, I know- there are conditions and blah, blah, blah. But Argue that half a worm in an apple is worse than finding one. Finding two, therefore, is fantastic!

Doubter?

If you doubt at all the benefits of using castings or vermicompost as a growth enhancer for plants, try this: put some seeds in your worm bin.
Try anything. Avocado pit, peach pit, pumpkin seed, etc. and see how many grow! You will be amazed.

Just Say No

Castings. I like the word castings. It's descriptive, not exactly obvious, but easy to say without being embarrassed. Usually, the first time you say it to someone who has not yet heard the term, an explanation is due. Usually one time will do it. From that point on, anyone understands the word castings.

Worm poop, however,is not OK. I have read many papers where the writer, in explaining an aspect of vermiculture, gets to the first mention of "castings and they almost all drop the scientific or technical language and explain it as: worm poop.

No! Poop is not an adult word! It is fine to use with kids. It's OK to use on kids; site such as Herman's, or to explain potty training. I don't even care if you ask a toddler if he has poopy diapers. But that is it!

I don't think you have to be vulgar. Words such as waste, excrement, trailings, etc. all work. Be precise. It's OK. It's natural.

Make the world a better place- Say No To Poop!

Is it an egg or cocoon?

As I ventured into the vermiculture world, one thing that seemed very obvious to me was that worm people spoke a different language and that the language had to be correct. One of these new vocabulary words was the “cocoon”.

Worms reproduce via a cocoon. Or at least that’s how the story goes. After reading about how this happens and finding my first “cocoons”, I wondered, why isn’t this called an egg? It looks like an egg. The worms emerging from the cocoon didn’t go in as worms and come out for the “rebirth” as butterflies, or sprout any wings, legs, or otherwise. In fact, it wasn’t a rebirth at all. I thought, “I am going to fight this! I am going to get the worm cocoon reclassed as an egg!” The problem with thinking is that I shouldn’t do too much of it, because I was wrong.

Just because my knowledge of cocoons is based solely on the caterpillar does not mean I am an expert on cocoons. My raising chickens or 40 some years of breakfast didn’t make me an expert on eggs either. Luckily before I began my crusade, I looked up the two words in the dictionary.

Cocoon: The silky envelope spun by the larvae of many insects, as silkworms, serving as a covering while they are in the pupal stage or any of various similar protective coverings in nature, as the silky case in which certain spiders enclose their eggs.

Egg: The roundish reproductive body produced by the female of certain animals, as birds and most reptiles, consisting of an ovum and its envelope of albumen, jelly, membranes, egg case, or shell, according to species.

Since the “object in question” serves as a protection to the fertilized eggs, and is made by the parent and because the “object in question” does not come exclusively from the female (since there isn’t one), the “object in question” must be a cocoon.

I will have to make my stand elsewhere!