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Fish, Chicken, and Red Wigglers

The main attraction for red worms is composting. Red worms are also popular as bait for fishing, and as food for your pets. Yes, feeding your cichlids (aquarium fish), bearded dragons, and other reptiles can benefit from your red wigglers. They are prolific and can save pet lovers frequent trips to the pet store to buy food for pets.

A red worm farm is a natural choice to compliment your chicken farm. Worms will flourish with the chicken litter and everyone knows chicken love to eat worms. Feed prices are going through the roof, and supplementing red worms in your egg layers’ diet can benefit your birds and pocket.

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Red worm reproduction.

8 Sep

A happy and healthy worm bin produces lots and lots of worms. Red worms can reproduce quickly laying an egg sac or cocoon every 7-8 days. Each egg sac can produce 3-20 hatchlings who reach sexual maturity in two months with a lifespan of up to 15 years! A healthy red worm population can double in a hurry.

Keeping a happy worm bin means the right amount of food (not overfeeding). The right amount of moisture– moist but not wet (wrung out sponge). The right temperature, and the right pH. If your bin is too acidic add some crushed egg shells to balance.

Raising red worms is a fun and easy way to recycle, compost food waste. With a little practice and seeing how your worms respond, you will be raising lots of red worms in no time.

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Categories Red Worm Reproduction, RedWorm Farming Tips

Compost tea results

16 Aug

I had mentioned in my previous post that positive indicator for my compost tea application was to rid a section of our hay patch of ants. The spot of concern has been infested for a few years with “town ants” or Texas leaf cutter ants. Town ant hills were sprinkled throughout a 20 yard X 20 yard area. The operative word being “were” because two weeks later the ant hills are vacant.

Beneficial microbes in compost tea are parasites to ants, fire ants, fleas, ticks, and chiggers. I had had success in my lawn in getting rid of some of these pests with compost tea, but never on this scale. This alone is encouragement enough for us to continue compost tea applications, and we’re looking forward to the next batch.

Tags: add beneficial microbes to your soil, buy red worms, chiggers, compost, compost tea, compost tea and pests, fertilizing hay fields with compost tea, fire ants, fleas and tick control, get rid of ants organically, getting rid of ants in your yard, houston red worms, natural pest control, organic fertilizer, organic gardening, organic pest control, red wigglers, red worm bin, red worm farming, red worms, red worms for sale in texas, san antonio red worms, texas red worms, town ants, turning 500 gallon spray rig into compost tea maker, worm bin composting, worm casting tea, worm tea

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Categories Compost Tea Party

Compost Tea Party part 3

11 Aug

We ended up with two batches. In both we used @80 lbs of finished compost (40lbs in each of 2 mesh laundry bags that we purchased for $1.87 at Wal-Mart). Both batches we used 500 gallons of well water, and aerated with our 1600 gallon rated Aquascape 4 pond aerator. Where we tinkered a little was on the food source (molasses + brown sugar) and brewing time. 1st batch we used two jars of unsulphured molasses and 1 lb of brown sugar and 24 hours of brewing time. The color was light brown and the smell was pretty much neutral with a hint of earthiness to it. Batch #2 was brewed for 36 hours and was fed 4 jars of molasses and 1 lb of brown sugar. The smell on batch #2 was the same faint earthy tone with a hint of sweetness from the molasses. The color was a shade darker brown than batch #1.

One thing we will be judging the success of the compost tea application on is in the reduction of ant hills. We don’t have a big fire ant problem, but one hay patch has several ant hills in an area. Adding beneficial microbes began for me as a way to control fire ants, grubs, and other pests in my yard, and have had some terrific results. We’ll keep you posted.

Tags: add beneficial microbes to your soil, buy red worms, compost, compost tea, fertilizing hay fields with compost tea, houston red worms, make your own compost tea, organic fertilizer, organic gardening, red wigglers, red worm bin, san antonio red worms, turning 500 gallon spray rig into compost tea maker, worm casting tea, worm tea

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Categories Compost Tea Party

Why are all my worms at the top of the bin?

10 Aug

I had someone ask the other day about why there worms were lined up at the top of their bin?

Worms should be dispersed throughout your bin when conditions are right. So chances are there might be an issue with your bin if you see this. Red worms like it moist, but don’t drown them. If the bin is outdoors make sure the soil is well draining, and that rain will not collect. Temperature is the other big factor in my experience. See The right temperature for worms for more info.

For an in depth look at the 3 rights of worm farming check out this link.

Tags: buy red worms, diy worm bin, houston red worms, outdoor worm pit, red wigglers, red worm bin, red worm farming, red worm farming tips, red worms, red worms for sale in texas, san antonio red worms, temperature guide for red worms, texas red worms, worm bin composting

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Categories Questions, RedWorm Farming Tips

10 minute Red Worm Setup

28 Jul

We had some local customers ask me to come help set up their worm bed. I delivered the worms and helped them set up their own worm bed in about 10 minutes. We found a nice spot in one of their flower beds, grabbed a plastic pot, some post hole diggers, and went to work. I dug a hole large enough to bury the pot, placed the pot inside with the bottom cut out, put the worms in with bedding and food, and placed the lid on top. This took about ten minutes and now Dave and Patty have their own TexasWormFarm.com worm bed.

Tags: add beneficial microbes to your soil, buy red worms, diy worm bin, houston red worms, make your own worm bed, outdoor worm pit, red wigglers, red worm bin, red worms, red worms for sale in texas, san antonio red worms

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Categories RedWorm Farming Tips

500 gallon Compost Tea Party part 2

27 Jul

Let the Compost Tea Party begin. The holes in our mesh bags were too large, and we were concerned that our sprayer might get clogged. We grabbed some old panty hose and stuffed our bags into them.

We brewed up our first batch for about 24 hours. It had a nice weak tea color and had a hint of earthy smell. (I pulled out my old Sears microscope that I got for Christmas in ’85, but figured X600 would not be quite powerful enough to see any microbes.) The first batch went well and was applied at a rate of 15 gallons per acre.

The next batch that is brewing right now. This batch will brew for 36 hours.

Tags: add beneficial microbes to your soil, buy red worms, compost, compost tea, houston red worms, make your own compost tea, organic fertilizer, organic gardening, red wigglers, red worm bin, red worm farming, red worms, san antonio red worms, worm casting tea, worm tea

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Categories Compost Tea Party

Can I keep my worms indoors?

24 Jul

Bins are fine indoors, and the starter “shoe box” size is great for under the sink. It’s odorless, bugless, and great for putting your table scraps right in. I keep some in large rubbermaid tubs in a bathtub that is rarely used hidden by the shower curtain. As long as my wife doesn’t see, the little fellas are welcome inside. Shhhh! don’t tell my wife.

To keep them “bug free” or at least to keep the fruit flies away simply drape an old sheet over your bins. This won’t restrict airflow, and will keep the fruit flies out.

If you are feeding properly, not overfeeding, it will smell like sweet earth or at least be contained in your bin. Overfeeding can be remedied by simply taking some food out, or adding shredded cardboard or paper products.

Tags: buy red worms, houston red worms, red wigglers, red worm bin, red worms for sale in texas, san antonio red worms, texas red worms, worm bin composting

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Categories Questions, RedWorm Farming Tips

500 gallon Worm Compost Tea Party

18 Jul

Brewing a 5 gallon batch of compost tea is no trouble. In a couple of weeks I will kick it up a notch and be brewing up 500 gallons at a time.

We purchased a 500 gallon spray rig from Rozell Sprayer Manufacturing Co. in Tyler, TX this Spring. In order to add beneficial microbes to our hay fields and pasture, I’m going to replace the water soluble fertilizer with compost tea. I don’t have enough compost to spread over 100+ acres, so compost tea is the solution.

I just ordered my aquascape 4-stone pond aerator today, and this is what I will use to aerate my tea to ensure it stays aerobic. Most of the beneficial bacteria are aerobic and will need plenty of O2. To keep the ratio of finished compost to water the same as a 5 gallon brew (1 lb. -1.5 lbs. per 5 gallon) I am going to need 100 -150 lbs. of compost and some larger mesh bags. I am planning on using onion sacks for my tea bags.

Stay tuned for more information on TexasRedWorms.com “Big Time- 500 gallon Worm Compost Tea Party”

Tags: add beneficial microbes to your soil, compost, compost tea, fertilizing hay fields with compost tea, houston red worms, make your own compost tea, organic fertilizer, organic gardening, red wigglers, red worms, red worms for sale in texas, san antonio red worms, texas red worms, turning 500 gallon spray rig into compost tea maker

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Categories Compost Tea Party

DIY outdoor worm farm

17 Jul

A shady flower bed in well drained soil is a terrific place for a submerged bucket or flower pot bin to make your very own worm bed or pit. Take a bucket or flower pot and and dig a hole deep enough for at least 1/2 to be underground. Turn your pot or bucket upside down and cut a hole in the top to feed worms and harvest castings. Your red wigglers will be able to stay cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter.

This bin was started a year ago and has been outstanding. This bed made it through one of the coldest Texas Winters I can remember with temperatures hitting the mid teens on a couple of occasions. I pulled the stone covering the top in early Spring, and was pleasantly surprised to see tons of baby red worms going to work.

Your flower bed will benefit from the castings deposited by your worms, and the leachate or run off will provide nitrogen rich nutrients as well. The cover helps to protect worms from the elements, and helps keep the bin from drying out. Send pictures of your worm bins, and share your ideas harrellindustries@gmail.com

Tags: diy worm bin, houston red worms, make your own worm bed, organic fertilizer, organic gardening, outdoor worm pit, red wigglers, red worm bin, red worm farming, red worm farming tips, red worms for sale in texas, san antonio red worms, worm bin composting

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Categories RedWorm Farming Tips

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