Ontario Shore Fishing Forum

How To Farm and Keep Worms

This will be a step by step easy to follow guide that will show you how to make your own worm farm. If you have any questions feel free to ask them.


Step 1. Get a bin (not clear) it can be any size depending on how many worms you want to get. Big bin for lots of worms small bin for small amount of worms.

Step 2. Make lots of holes at the bottom of the bin (I will explain why later) and if you will be using a lid make a few there too (a lid is not needed though). Add a few holes at the side too.




You have now finished setting up your bin.

Step 3. Get newspaper, paper, mail, or cardboard and rip it up in small strips (if you have a paper shredder use that).

Step 4. Now use the paper strips from Step 3 and spread it out around the bottom of the bin about an inch high. OPTIONAL: If you have any food scraps EX. apple core, banana peel, pear you can shuffle it around with the paper scraps (this will give the worms easy access to food). Do not use meat, poultry, fish, dairy, potato chips, candy, oils, oranges, lemons, and limes because these are not good for the worms or the farm.



Step 5. Lightly dampen the paper to soften the bedding for the worms. Do not over water.

You have now finished making the bedding, the area that the worms will mainly spend there time in and the area that the worms will be laying there eggs.

Step 6. Get soil. Peat moss works well but any soil works as long as there is no dense concentration of fertilizers or pesticides.

Step 7. Fill your bin with soil up to about 2 or 3 inches from the rim. OPTIONAL: Every couple of inches of soil put some food scraps in there for worm food. Remember NO meat, poultry, fish, dairy, potato chips, candy, oils, oranges, lemons, and limes because these are not good for the worms or the farm.



Step 8. Spray some water over the farm to dampen all of the soil in the farm, do NOT over water it. Any little bit of excess water will drain through the holes in the bottom of the bin. Make sure that all of the soil is evenly dampened (sift through to spread the water)

You have now finished filling the bin with soil and preparing it for the worms. You are now ready for the final steps.

OPTIONAL STEP: Allow the bin to sit for a week to allow the bin to set, and allow oxygen and nutrients to pass through.

Step 9. Add the worms to the top of the bin and allow them to dig down.
Do not try to assist them with burrowing because it will scare them it can take up to a day for all of them to burrow down. Any worms that do not go down after being there for a day or two are garbage and should be thrown away.



Step 10. Add some extra little food scraps to the top of the soil if the worms are up there and are hungry.

CONGRATULATIONS You have finished making your worm farm.

Information:

Worms can eat up to two times there body size every day so always feed them according to the amount they'll eat. However worms can last their entire lives feeding only off of nutrients in the soil so food is always extra.

If you think you've found a dead worm sprinkle it with a little bit of warm water, if it doesn't revive them your worm is dead.

Food will grow mold if left uneaten for a while if you find a piece of food that is moldy remove it.

Repeat Step 8 every day (if you can, just try to water as much as possible) to keep the soil soft. Spray LOTS and don't worry about over watering, the excess water will seep through the holes in the bin. Worms release over half of their body water daily so they NEED water to grow healthy, reproduce and survive.

Keep the worms out of direct sunlight.

Keep the worms cool, worms hate heat a shady area outside is perfect.

(optional) Every month add food to the bedding layer for the worms that are breeding.

Do not move the soil around to much as it will bother the worms.

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I hope very much that this provides the information that you needed and was helpful.

If you have any question feel free to ask them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and,
Good Luck,

Giuga10

That is awesome, very easy for us seniors......lol

Questions:

What kind of reproduction rates have you experienced?

How long would doubling the population take?


Regards,

Oldtimer

(05-30-2013 09:21 AM)captain2002 Wrote: [ -> ]That is awesome, very easy for us seniors......lol

Glad I could help .

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(05-30-2013 03:51 PM)OldTimer Wrote: [ -> ]Questions:

What kind of reproduction rates have you experienced?

How long would doubling the population take?


Regards,

Oldtimer

I often don't leave the worms in for long enough to reproduce as I use worms a lot when fishing for Carp and Catfish. But I have experienced some reproduction. For Nightcrawlers it takes from 20-90 days for them to reproduce. For doubling the population it all depends on how many eggs are layed, how many worms participate in the spawning, and how many survive after birth.