Speaking of Worms

Gardens Alive is selling earthworm "cocoons". They are on sale for the month of November.

http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8815&sid=144715&prd=y&eid=110607ga&eicioi=168989

Ummmm, Katie please tell me you are not going to buy into this - That is soooooo expensive. All you need to do is put some cardboard over some damp dirt - wait a week or two and lift. Lots of worms come up to play. I appreciate they are used worms, but they have a lot of useful service left in them.

And to get you growing more worms - may I suggest this free newletter:

http://www.wormfarmingsecrets.com/




This message was edited Nov 7, 2007 12:11 AM

Sometimes it helps a little to "seed" with worms. For instance, at the bottom of my much-neglected grass pile, there were no worms. Everybody had moved to the top. It's turned and has been amended now and I'll have 10 yards of compost when I'm done, but I'd like to help out the process a little bit by adding some more guys into the pile.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out!!

I saw something on the TV about making a worm box you could but in the house and put your food waste in and you have your own supply of worms. I think it was in one of cisco's clips.

http://www.king5.com/video/ciscoe-index.html?nvid=179227

I would LOVE to do that, but with the kitties, it would be hard. They are into everything; I've all but given up on house plants and there's no way I can overwinter anything inside. Sigh. I wish they could still be indoor/outdoor, but I can hear the coyotes howling in the daytime. And in Lynnwood, which I consider the city, somebody just had a chihuahua attacked on her front porch by a coyote. Fortunately, her bigger dog scared the coyote off (at least it can still be scared), and the chihuahua may make it.

Anyway, my worms will have to stay outside. Hmmm. Maybe I can try a worm box in the garage . . .

Thanks, Mary. I'll look at this, too.

Great info. I've signed up for the newsletter and I've watched the video. I think I'll be making a bin to go under the sink!!

Katie, coffee grounds will draw worms like crazy. I had a big bag waiting to be layered into the compost but ignored it a couple months. When I did go to make compost that bag was riddled with red worms- little youngsters, medium sizers, and medium large ones. They love coffee grounds!

So lots of coffee grounds = lots of worm reproduction. I know you mentioned that it was good for the compost when we talked last weekend. Good to know that the worms love it - maybe the caffeine gets them going. LOL. I augment the pile when I can, but haven't actually enlisted the aid of my friends at Starbucks. I need to do that. Maybe if I bring them a bin I can get a regular supply. And at least that doesn't attract the other critters.

I was all excited about putting a worm bin under the sink, but my plumbing won't allow what I had in mind. Still thinking about a little worm corner for the garage . . .

You can put the bin just about anywhere

Kathy - I will bring you worms from my compost pile, this weekend if you like.
They don't mind going on journeys, and it's getting crowded in my compost piles.
I will be culling some for moving into my new piles, so it's not a problem.

also, compost worms are different from earthworms. totally different critters. If you live in an area with horses, dig in some composted horse manure. You'll find plenty of red wigglers, the compost worms. Also, I get lots of those in my leaf pile that's been sitting for a few years. They just appear like magic. I think the fairies bring them.

Thanks, Katie. I'd love some more worms. I'll build my bin tomorrow.

Pixy, I had read that. So the red wigglers are out there, just have to find them, eh?

They will find you if you put the right stuff out. All you ever wanted to know about worms, and more, can be found here:
http://www.wormdigest.org/content/view/103/2/

Wormdigest - wonderful pun.

Yep, thought you'd appreciate that!

I think I would rather go back to the worm song.

Finished the worm bin. It took about an hour; much less time than it took me to find the parts. The only downside is that the plastic fumes have given me the worst headache. I can't imagine the worms will like it either. I should have done it outside.

The top bin, which is where the worms will live, has 20 1/4" holes in the bottom for drainage, 5 1" holes on either side and 2 2" holes in the top for ventilation.

The bottom bin will catch any fluids and the spigot is to periodically let the fluids out.

The hardest part is the spigot - the hole didn't drill cleanly because I put the spigot too close to the bottom. I'm hoping that the rubber/plastic o-rings will seal it. The instructions say 1/2 " up, but you should make sure that you are drilling above the "corner".

The view of the other side and the top.

Kathy - looks great! And now that there's a picture, I do remember seeing those little vents before.
I was checking out the purchasing of worms online: you have control over which type you're putting in there.
For all the energy/time you've invested, it seems quite reasonable. I did not think the prices were out of line, either.

Thanks, Katye. Yeah - I don't know my regular earthworm from a red wiggler, so it might be nice to get started with the right thing . . .

Now, girls, I assume that you can tell the difference between a red wiggler and an earthworm if you have them side by side. The red wigglers are, well, RED!! LOL!! Hence the name! They are also smaller than earthworms and they will be found on top of the ground, but underneath stuff like rotting leaves. You have to dig to get earthworms. They are actually little plain looking worms and are also sometimes sold as fishing worms. I think the time I bought them, years ago when my daughter did a worm bin, we got ours at a sporting good store.

I love the look of that worm bin! I have one of those fruit drying thingys that has all the perforated trays that stack one on top of the other. I had intended to make a worm bin out of it but I could never figure out exactly how I was going to do it. I'd say yours is much better.

I'm going to have to read up on red wrigglers this winter. I know I've got plenty of those in horse poop piles and other locales. That worm link was fabulous- the author smitten by worms, I'm sure.

THe former owners of our house raised worms for bait, I think, for a time. They left big wooden racks in a back room in the garage which now smells amazingly earthy or like Perma-Worm-Smell. Not unpleasant, but nothing Glade is going to market any time soon. ;)

Here's my worm mystery and a perfect place to ask a question: Many mornings I will go down to dump the old and add fresh water to the goats' water bucket. Often, there will be 1-2 little tiny pink worms in the bucket. How do they get there? They don't climb like slugs, do they? I've never seen a climbing worm. I clean the bucket regularly with bleach and soap.
Do they climb in?
Are worm eggs drifting in from the air?
Do UFOs deliver baby worms to buckets of water in the depth of night?

I have always wondered how they get in there: never a big worm, or a red wriggler, just little 0.5 to rarely 1.5 inch pink worms. The animals are wormed monthly too, so please don't tell me it's them hacking up worm larvae to be born in their water supply. ( Unless that might be the sordid truth, in which case I will do my own hurling.)

Katie59 that's a beautiful worm bin and I'll be curious to follow your progress with the inhabitants!

Pixy - Before I buy, I'm going to walk over the neighbors house and dig through their horses' manure. I'll see if I can't find something redder than my regular old guys around here. I've looked at a couple of comparison pictures on gardenweb and I think I'm worm challenged. They all look so much the same to me. LOL

Poochella - Good question. I have actually had worms that dried out crawling up the side of the house and ended up pasted there. Not often, but I've seen it. Don't rule out the UFO's yet, but it could be that they're crawling up there. The "why" is, of course, another matter.

I'm actually going to try to keep my bin inside at the beginning. Probably in the closet in the laundry room. If it starts to smell like Perma-Worm-Smell, though, I might have to reconsider and find a way to keep them warm in the garage - hey - maybe in the cooler next to the dahlias . . .

Katie I'll bet you find yourself some nice red wigglers in the horsepoop!
Poochella, fairies put the worms there. That's how you get worms in places where there were never worms before. I thought everyone knew that.

Hey Katie Lets set a date you bring a bucket out, I have worms every where, I even have the real earth worms that are a 1/4 " around and get to be around 4 - 6 "
long and they have a flat upper body real cool to find. The area around me use to be a old peat bog, many moons ago, plus a horse pasture, and finding them is no problem, and allot depends on the weather. they come to the surfus when its early morning and warm out.

Ooooh. Mary. Sorry for not responding. I saw this post when I was in a hurry and forgot to come back.
I'd love to come out and visit you and see your place. But I won't be able to do it for awhile, what with the holidays and all. Thanks so much for the invitation!!

So I'm stuck trolling the neighbors' manure to the red guys. I haven't gotten around to that yet - maybe next weekend. I'm saving my old rotting pumpkin just for them!! LOL

You wont find them to easy when its cold out, they dont like the cold, was thinking more around Feb- Mar.
Welcome anytime