Earthworm Condos -- Vermicomposting...

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Sycamore Slough
Disco Stu on Sunday, May 6, 2018 – 08:56 pm

Forums:

Trying it out.  Earthworm Hi - Rise is a success so far.

No fancy African NightCrawlers yet,  just local Earthworms.

Tell me of your tips / tricks raising the domestic Earthworm Farm.

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Hitchhiker awaiting "true call"
Knotesau on Sunday, May 6, 2018 – 10:46 pm

East side gardens 

image_303.jpeg

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treat island
judit on Sunday, May 6, 2018 – 10:58 pm

Alcatraz?

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Hitchhiker awaiting "true call"
Knotesau on Sunday, May 6, 2018 – 11:10 pm

Yes

 

The first Spaniard to document the island was Juan Manuel Diaz, who charted San Francisco Bay and named one of the three islands he identified as the "La Isla de los Alcatraces," which translates as "The Island of the Pelicans," from the archaic Spanish alcatraz ("pelican"). Over the years, the Spanish version "Alcatraz" became popular and is now widely used. In August 1827, French Captain Auguste Bernard Duhaut-Cilly wrote "... running past Alcatraze's (Pelicans) Island ... covered with a countless number of these birds. A gun fired over the feathered legions caused them to fly up in a great cloud and with a noise like a hurricane." The California brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) is not known to nest on the island today. The Spanish built several small buildings on the island and other minor structures.

 

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Dr. Benway
daylight on Sunday, May 6, 2018 – 11:26 pm

just took an insane company field trip to TerraVesca - a worm farm in sonoma. we got to tour their worm beds, see the journey the manure makes from composting bins to worm beds, and see the sifting machine they use to produce their finished vermicompost.

but i did find huge piles of native worms under unused growbags filled with wet soil, and piles of worm castings all around the bags...so i guess im farming worms???

 

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2 Room Shack
Turtle on Monday, May 7, 2018 – 10:25 am

i like pelicanos

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Sycamore Slough
Disco Stu on Monday, May 7, 2018 – 12:19 pm

From a 'permaculture' site...

"...A really generalized run down... 
anecic- typically large earthworms- they create rather deep burrows- they generally need cooler temps- they like deeper soils and some space in an area that isn't disturbed too much. 

Endogeic- mid-ish level dwellers- rough ballpark about 4 to 6 inches.. kinda mid sized. They're the ones that hang out a couple of inches into the soil. In some parts these are the ones we find when we turn the soil in gardens-hanging out in raised beds and wandering through the lawn under the sod. 

Epigeic- smaller- typically pigmented- they are the upper level dwellers. This particular type does well in bins..."

https://permies.com/t/23136/Cultivating-native-earthworms

I guess mine are the "Endogeic" type.  Digging them up by the barn where there were sheep.  Where the concentrated sheep-dip is,  no worms.  Where grass / soil / decayed sheep manure meet,  hundreds of worms.

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Backroads Bill
The Barefoot Boy on Monday, May 7, 2018 – 10:12 pm

I got 1,000 European red wriggler nightcrawlers back in Feb.

They're doing great.

Haven't built a sectional high rise, just keeping them in a plastic storage container for now but soon will have to expand.

They love corn meal.

I got them for the convenience of having fishing worms at the ready.

 

 

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Sycamore Slough
Disco Stu on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 – 07:05 pm

Backroads,

Are they the 'Red Wiggler' variety (skinny) or the 'Nightcrawler' type (fat) ??

The sites that sell worms have both.  What I'm digging up in the former sheep pasture are about 10:1 skinny vs. fat.

Maybe 20:1.  From what I've read the 'native' Nightcrawlers and skinny worms can live together in harmony.

Takes me about ten minutes to collect 100 worms.

So far the 5-gallon bucket condo is going well.  I can see the advantage of larger Rubbermaid bins so one side can be habitat,  and the other side the food pile.