Below is a picture from a customer who asked the question, “What are these in my bin and are they harmful to the worms”? These are probably black soldier fly larvae. They are a little unsightly, but are good composters in their own right and are not harmful to your worms. These tend to show up in my manure piles when the weather heats up. I will remove them most of the time from my worm bin if they show up, but it is not necessary.
Here’s another example of a raised bed for worms. It’s next to the house and gets full shade. It’s next to a spicket for easy access to water and/or drip irrigation. I used some landscaping blocks to construct the borders and filled it with compost. After adding a Tx Jumper Starter, I cut a piece of old carpet to cover. The cover acts as a permanent mulch blanket to keep in moisture and protects the worms. I like carpet or an old rug because they last a long time, and I believe the weight gives the worms a sense of security that promotes surfacing and feeding.
Within a few months of setting this up, the worms started to really take off. I continue to keep moist, and fed with compost. The worms do the rest. It’s always fun to pull back the carpet and see a bunch of happy worms (Texas Jumpers).
A big thank you to Paul in North Carolina for sending us these pics of his compost tumbler and worm bin. Great work!
When you start a new European nightcrawler bin, these little fellas will do just as their name suggests and night crawl all over the place. On several occasions I have woken up to worms out of the bin. There is a simple little trick you can use that will help them stay put. Place a lamp or light source above the bin at night and they will be good girls/boys and “stay”. After a few days, maybe a week or so they will get settled into their new home and be “trained” to stay put.
I am looking to have a storage building built on my property and called a local builder that I came across at http://www.bbarns.com. After talking a few minutes, we realized we had met earlier. Turns out a year or more ago, Robert got a pound of European Nightcrawlers from me. In addition to talking storage building construction, Robert talked all about how well his worm bed was doing and sent me this great pic. Not only does he have a great looking worm bed, but his vegetable garden is the envy of the neighborhood. Thanks for sharing, Robert.
TexasRedWorms will be in Boerne, TX this Saturday the 19th at 33 Herff Road, Boerne, TX. We will be there to talk about composting with worms, setting up, and other how to information.
We’ll be there from 10am-11am Saturday morning.
