Quick Guide to Raising Worms

By Marlene Kristensen
Raising worms or worm farming - quick guide

Why would someone be interested in raising worms or worm farming? If you are at all concerned about the earth and your environment, worm farming is a great opportunity for giving back to mother earth. First of, you don't have to burn your organic waste and pollute the air. Second, you fertilize the earth and give plants a better environment to live and grow in. If you have vegetables in your garden, and fertilize the ground they live in, you will have a huge increase in the outcome.

What you need to know to get started:

What happens in a worm farm?

-- The worms and microorganisms breakdown the organic wastes by eating it and in the other end comes the material you can use as a fertilizer.

What worms to use?

-- When you are raising worms indoor you can not use regular soil worms(earthworms) for composting. They cannot survive in that environment (unless it is open to the surrounding soil and outdoor)

-- For indoor or closed composting you have to use special worms that do not dig deep into the ground. Surface worms is the way to go.

-- You can use E. fetida include: red worm, red wiggler, brandling worm, manure worm, tiger worm or Lumbricus rubellus.

How much waste can they process?

-- When you first start out, you have to give the worms a couple of months to adjust to your environment. In this time they produce less, about 1/4 of their entire weight each day (1 pound = 1/4 lb per day)

-- When you are up and running you should be able to process about 1/2 of the worms total weight a day (1 pound of worms = 1/2 lb waste per

What about the climate in the compost?

-- You should try and keep the moisture content on about 80-90% and ad fresh air as well. It is most important when raising worms.

What to compost?

-- Use only fruit and vegetable waste...also add crushed egg shells every now and again.

What do the worms cost?

-- It depends on the type of worm, but typically 1 lb (1000 worms) is $15 - $40.

Raising worms can be a great hobby for your kids as well. It is easy to do and the children just love to get their hands in the ground. Kids need to learn about nature and how to protect it. This is a very affordable and fun way to learn.

Hope you like the article, if you want more info on raising worms just go to my squidoo lens: http://www.squidoo.com/raisingworms or get the newbie book http://www.raisingworms.info Get your hands in the ground!
Marlene

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