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Worm hack?

3rd Monkey

3rd Monkey

Well-Known Member
This might be a well known thing, but new to me anyhow.

I run red wigglers like most and they were breeding fairly well. Started doing outside chores and grabbing night crawlers I would find and throwing them in the bin.

Since then, my red wigglers have exploded in breeding it seems. I'm not complaining at all.

Just wondering if anybody has any insight? Maybe trying to breed them out? Competition?
 
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loco41

Well-Known Member
3rd Monkey said:
This might be a well known thing, but new to me anyhow.

I run red wigglers like most and they were breeding fairly well. Started doing outside chores and grabbing night crawlers I would find and throwing them in the bin.

Since then, my red wigglers have exploded in breeding it seems. I'm not complaining at all.

Just wondering if anybody has any insight? Maybe trying to breed them out? Competition?
Click to expand...
From what I've read so far about the worms, the two work different levels of the soil, so I don't think it would be a competition for food. My guess is that it is a more healthy bin with the night crawlers doing work below the red's and therefore a healthier red worm population starting to boom in the top layers. I could be way off, that's just my thought process. I'd be curious to hear a more experienced person chime in though. I may have to throw a few of my healthy looking night crawlers into my bin as well and see what happens.

How deep is the bedding in your bins? Also, do you stack them or no?
 
3rd Monkey

3rd Monkey

Well-Known Member
loco41 said:
From what I've read so far about the worms, the two work different levels of the soil, so I don't think it would be a competition for food. My guess is that it is a more healthy bin with the night crawlers doing work below the red's and therefore a healthier red worm population starting to boom in the top layers. I could be way off, that's just my thought process. I'd be curious to hear a more experienced person chime in though. I may have to throw a few of my healthy looking night crawlers into my bin as well and see what happens.

How deep is the bedding in your bins? Also, do you stack them or no?
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I'm running a 33 gallon tote. It's about 16" high and the bedding is around 8"-10" deep. I've seen the reds at the bottom already, so I can't speak on the depth stopping them.

No stack, just the tub.
 
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waterproof808

Well-Known Member
Worm populations are pretty self-regulating, they breed more when they have enough space and plenty of food and stop breeding when things get cramped. You just have an ideal environment going for them right now and they are happy with how you are treating them.
 
3rd Monkey

3rd Monkey

Well-Known Member
Well I appreciate everyone telling me that I'm doing a good job with the bin, thank you. I was just hoping the night crawlers could give us an edge in our bins.
 
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waterproof808

Well-Known Member
If you want to take your worm castings to the next level, start adding small amounts of usual soil amendments like kelp, oyster shell, neem/karanja cake, alfalfa, comfrey, etc instead of just kitchen scraps. The amendments get broken down through a cold process instead of thru heat like composting or "cooking" soil and more of the beneficial compounds are preserved.
 
3rd Monkey

3rd Monkey

Well-Known Member
waterproof808 said:
If you want to take your worm castings to the next level, start adding small amounts of usual soil amendments like kelp, oyster shell, neem/karanja cake, alfalfa, comfrey, etc instead of just kitchen scraps. The amendments get broken down through a cold process instead of thru heat like composting or "cooking" soil and more of the beneficial compounds are preserved.
Click to expand...
I don't use soil amendments in my worm bin, but I compost everything 60-70% before I feed it to them.

I use bone and blood meal from my livestock in the compost, but that's about the only amendments I use other than manure and scraps.

I'll definitely consider it. I have to make a bigger bin anyway, so that would be the time to do it lol.

Thanks.
 
MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
waterproof808 said:
If you want to take your worm castings to the next level, start adding small amounts of usual soil amendments like kelp, oyster shell, neem/karanja cake, alfalfa, comfrey, etc instead of just kitchen scraps. The amendments get broken down through a cold process instead of thru heat like composting or "cooking" soil and more of the beneficial compounds are preserved.
Click to expand...
Have you ever tried 'kashi in a worm bin? I've been making a home-made grokashi 10 gallons at a time, so using 5gal of wheat bran grokashi is not hard to do.
 
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