Tag Archives: vermiculture

DIY Worm Trough

28 Apr

I had been thinking of building a feed trough style worm bed for some time.  I found some plastic 55 gallon drums on Craigslist.  My dad had some pine 2X4s cut from his saw mill, and we were in business.  We began by cutting the 55 gallon plastic drums in half w/ a skill saw.

Materials: (2X4s, plastic 55 gallon drums, 3 inch wood screws, roofing screws, Thompson’s water seal)

Next we cut the 2X4s to border the open 1/2 end of the drum.  We used 3″ screws to piece the wood together, and galvanized roofing screws to secure the barrel to frame.  The height off the ground, we sized to about waist high for ease of use and for clearance underneath.
We had enough time and materials to build 3 bins.  When finished, I sprayed some wood preservative on the untreated pine, then I added compost and worms.  These bins are kept in a shaded area, and covered with plastic lids.  I set up a bin for each species we raise (Alabama Jumpers, Red Worms, European Nightcrawlers)
Thanks to my dad (pictured) for the pine, and skilled labor.
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Add Alabama Jumpers, Red Worms to your soil or raised bed.

19 Apr

When your worm order arrives here is one way to add them to your garden, raised bed, soil.  Your TexasRedWorms.com farm is a great place to raise your worms, but soon you will need to harvest the worms in order to make room for more.  You can use all or a portion of your worms.  In this example I am adding a box of Alabama Jumpers or as I like to refer to them “Texas Jumpers” to a raised bed I have prepared.

1. Choose a location preferably a shady spot that you can keep somewhat moist.  If you are adding to a full sun area be sure to cover with a few inches of mulching material to protect from the sun and to retain moisture. Leaves, newspaper, straw will work fine.  Morning or evening are the best time to add your worms.

2. Pre-wet the area you have chosen to prepare a nice moist environment for your worms to settle in.

3. You will need to dig a small hole about the size and depth of the box or container of your worms and contents.

4. Empty contents worms and compost into the hole.

5.  Cover with a section of wet newspaper.  This will keep the worms cool and protected from drying out giving them an opportunity to settle in to their new home. The Alabama Jumpers will eventually spread out on their own.  Red Worms and European Nightcrawlers will stay were they are fed and are not going to spread like the tunneling Jumpers. In the event you are adding Red Worms or European Nightcrawlers you will add a handful of kitchen scraps to the same location you placed your worms every few days.  As your worm population grows you will learn how often to feed based on how fast they work through the organic material.  The Alabama Jumpers are great for aerating and fertilizing the soil.  Red Worms and European Nightcrawlers are better composting worms.

For added protection I covered the newspaper with some leaves.  This method is one I have used with success, I have included some other similar worm bed set up links I have used.  Have fun and send us ideas.  Let us know if you have any questions.

Worm Tubes, Worm Pit, Outdoor Worm Bed, Flow Through Worm Bin.

Red Worm Composting at Historic Preservation Site in San Antonio, TX

11 Apr

Orlando Cortinas, Landscape Maintenance Technician for Villa Finale in the historic King William district in San Antonio, TX is doing some tremendous work on the museum grounds.  He is bringing this historic property back to life, and working on some exciting organic methods to gardening and landscaping.  Orlando has built a beautiful worm composting pit, and another composting bin for leaves, yard clippings, and food waste.

On my tour of the grounds, Orlando showed me his plans for a greenhouse, and compost tea brewer.  Thanks Orlando, and the National Trust For Historic Preservation for your purchase with TexasRedWorms.com and the tour of your impressive property.

The first National Trust Historic site in Texas, this former home of preservationist and civic leader Walter Mathis was purchased in 1967.  This home originally built in 1876 is now a museum, and a nearly 2 acre showcase along the San Antonio River on former Alamo farm lands.

Worm Composting Bins and Garden Worm Tubes

31 Mar

Brian in San Antonio was kind enough to share some pictures of his worm tubes that he placed under the eves of his home and buried about 18″.  He drilled several holes in the  bottom 18″ buried portion of the pipe for drainage.

I just wanted to thank you for your help and encouragement starting worm composting. I went ahead and mixed 50-50 cow manure and peat moss in my tube and added a hand full of your red worms, and built a two bin system for the rest of the worms. two worm I added to my potted pineapple plant as an experiment. I figured I’d let the worms settle in for 3-7 days before adding vegetable mater. take a look at my pictures   and let me know what you think. thanks again brother. BRIAN

Here are some more pics of his two bin system.

Above: drainage bin to catch excess moisture from worm composting bin.

Thanks to Brian in San Antonio for sharing your pics and ideas.

Let us know if you have any questions about composting w/ worms.  Red Worms, European Nightcrawlers, and Alabama Jumpers available at TexasRedWorms.com for composting, gardening, and fishing. For more tips on what to do when you receive your worms check out our Care of Worms section.

Alabama Jumpers in Texas

28 Mar

I have been experimenting for a little over a year with the Alabama Jumper, sometimes referred to as the Georgia Jumper, or in this case Texas Jumper. The scientific name of which being Amynthas agrestis.  Now that that’s out of the way, this Jumper isn’t even originally from Alabama?   As a matter of fact, it is believed to hail from Asia.  How about that?  This aggressive and super strong worm can and will jump right out of your hand.  This super strength makes it a powerful tunneler, and allows it to burrow through some of the hardest packed clay soil.  This worm is a hot item, and is in high demand by gardeners everywhere for these reasons.  European nightcrawlers, African nightcrawlers, and Red Worms, are all great, but the Alabama Jumper can go to work in clay and sand unlike the other varieties.  I have experienced it’s power first hand, and been amazed at it’s strength and ability to work through some hard soil.  In San Antonio, we’ve got some pretty tough clay, and I have seen these Jumpers perform mightily in it.  I too have read all the hype about this worm, and it is the real deal.  The Alabama Jumper is great for people that want a worm to go to work in their soil, garden, or flowerbeds.  For composting, producing castings, or fishing I would recommend the others.

I have been trying various methods of raising the Alabama Jumper for over a year, and have had success with raising them in bins, as well as, worm beds or pits.  They are reproducing in both environments, and I have a limited amount available for sale.  Call for availability.

Make your own worm pit.

25 Mar

Due to a lack of morning or afternoon sun, I had a difficult time growing anything in this flower bed.  What began about three years ago as a compost pile would be converted into a worm pit.

First, I dug out some of the existing soil that was mostly clay and caliche (rock).  I dug out about 18″ and began filling w/ organic matter.  I began adding coffee grounds, horse and cow manure, grass clippings, leaves, and other vegetable waste.  I didn’t add worms until about this time last year.  Adding the worms at this point,  gave the organic matter plenty of time to break down, and provide a rich environment for the worms.  The worms have flourished and every handful yields a good many worms.  I have continued to add compost material, and water as needed to keep the bed moist.  Over the last month or so, the live oaks have given us a ton of leaves, and I have added them to the top layer as a mulch.   You can use newspaper, hay, or other kinds of mulch to keep the worm bed from drying out.  A layer of mulch will also keep the worms cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  This particular worm pit I am raising Alabama Jumpers, but is suitable for other species, red worms, European nightcrawlers, and African nightcrawlers.

Harvesting Worm Castings w/ a Homemade Sifter

23 Mar

For large jobs of sifting worms from castings or compost I use my Texas Worm Harvester, but for smaller jobs I have built a small box sifter.  With some scrap materials,  and the left over 1/4 inch wire mesh I had I put together this sifter.  I have also seen where other worm farmers use 1/8 inch screen, for my use I have found the 1/4 inch to do just fine.  Separating worms from castings using this or the harvester method is the first step I take and removes most of the worms are course unprocessed organic matter.  I do spend time picking out tiny worms and eggs, but losing a few is not a big deal.  Here is a picture of a tiny hatchling that I found while harvesting castings.  As you can see, or maybe not, these little guys are hard to find.  This little thread of a worm was wiggling which made him easier to see.

Compost Tea Time

18 Mar

This afternoon I began brewing up about 70 gallons of compost tea with worm castings I recently harvested.  In about 12 hours my brew will be ready to apply to my plants and yard.  If you are in the San Antonio area, and can pick up, I’ll be giving a gallon of actively aerated vermicompost tea away with a TexasRedWorm.com purchase.  An application of compost tea will add life to your soil with beneficial micro organisms that will fight disease and pests, as well as, boost your plants growth.  Active aeration prevents harmful anaerobic bacteria and other non-beneficial microbial activity.  Applying compost tea within a few hours is best, after a few hours the brew begins to go anearobic.

Here’s a link for a recipe.

Be aware of store bought compost tea products claims that are sitting on the shelf.  These products will not be aerobic and will not contain many of the benefits (beneficial microbes that require Oxygen) that are associated with actively aerated compost tea.

Worm Castings: the Best Fertilizer for the Garden

16 Mar

Spring time means it’s time to plant.  The whole family pitched in helping my parents with the garden. My niece and dad are pictured above planting the watermelons.  I supplied the worm castings, and a little hoeing to help out.

Worm castings are one of the benefits to raising your own worms.  Composting food waste with worms will give you your own organic fertilizer.  All natural fertilizer that strengthens roots of plants, improve disease resistance, and makes better tasting vegetables.  Check out these links for additional information and benefits from gardening with worm castings.

wormcompostingblog.com

wormsetc.com

tastefulgarden.com

We’ll be looking forward to some more tasty vegetables from the garden this year.

Texas Worm Harvester (part 4)

10 Mar

After several weeks and hundreds of pounds, I have made a few modifications to my worm harvester.  The first thing I did was replace the 1/2 inch hardware cloth w/ 1/4 inch screen throughout.  The 1/4 inch screen keeps the majority of the worms out of the catch tubs and sends most worms to the end bucket along w/ the larger sized material.  I still have to spend some time picking through the worm castings for eggs and baby worms.  Using this method I have been able to speed up the process of separating worms from castings considerably.

Another change I made was adding a scrap piece of particle board to the front end to make loading easier and to prevent back flow.  The only other modification was to tweak the angle slightly.  I have the end pieces bolted so that I can adjust the height, also I can add blocks underneath to change the level.