On the U.S. mainland, the predominant composting worm used is described as a Red Wiggler, mostly identified as Eisenia fetida. In Hawaii there are no native earthworms or composting worms. All worms that occur here were introduced. It is a crime, punishable with a hefty fine, to import worms from the mainland without obtaining approval by the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture. As we understand it, the Dept. of Ag. is not giving approval for importation.
We raise the Indian Blue worm, Perionyx excavatus, which is a tropical composting worm. Take a look at this photo and you'll understand why they are called the "Waimanalo Blues". We are registered and approved by the Dept. of Agriculture for the sale of the worms. We also have Alabama Jumpers, which are deemed to be a respectable composting worm, but will only include the Alabama Jumpers in sales if customers wish. The Indian Blues and Alabama Jumpers coexist amicably in our worm beds. We obtained our initial breeding stock from worms we were fortunate enough to collect on our Ag. property.
There are several other small worm dealers on the various Neighbor Islands. We purchased worms from one of these dealers and they too turned out to be Indian Blue worms. We have not seen Indian Blues advertised elsewhere for sale online.
HOW WE SELL WORMS
We normally sell worms as worm-rich bed run by weight. This is generally not how they are sold on the U.S. mainland, where they are usually sold by the lb of actual live worms. On the mainland, with the cheaper AG land, cost of living, and large farm base, there are a large number of suppliers who can supply Red Wiggler worms at relatively low prices, usually as an adjunct to an animal raising operation that supplies the manure to feed the worms. Furthermore, the worm dealers on the mainland are predominantly selling their worms in an adult size to be used for fishing. We don't sell worms for fishing but are selling a smaller worm that is suitable for Hawaii's climate for the purpose of composting.
Many experts recommend that new breeders purchase bed run to set up a new worm bin.
Our pound of our bed run provides adult worms plus a rich population of healthy hatchlings, juveniles and eggs, as well as a bed of the rich food in which they were raised. The hatchlings and juveniles are so tiny that they add almost nothing to the weight of worms sold, but they are well started. What this means for the buyer is that the hatchlings and juveniles are developing, with additional worms hatching out from day one, instead of having to wait for a group of adults to breed and lay eggs, and for the eggs to hatch. This jump starts a worm bin population.
If a customer wishes, we will sell them live adult worms (either Indian Blues or Alabama Jumpers) by the ounce (currently $10 per oz), however, this is a much more expensive way to get the same starting population of individual worms.
Currently the price of bed run is $40 per lb. retail, or $30 per lb to Worm Club members for 2 lbs. or more.
LIZ's WILD & WORMY BREEDING TECHNIQUES
I read a lot of literature about worm bin management and developed my own techniques for managing breeding bins that increase Indian Blue populations quickly and make fat sassy Blues and lots of babies. My technique is specifically for breeding my worms, not for the production and easy harvesting of castings. My description below is not a worm breeding manual, but it may provide with you the ideas and confidence to start growing your own worms.
I use a soft-sided worm bin of a very fine durable material, Geotextile, which is a rugged, water-permeable, polypropylene cloth. I came by my material in a product called Stallskins, which is used in horse stalls to keep bedding separated from the stall drainage sub layers. I purchased the Stallskins and never used them for the original purpose. The Stallskins were fairly pricey. I will be researching availability and pricing for the Geotextile material. You may use a very fine screen fabric base but it has to be fine, because the worms seem to be able to squeeze down through everything but the finest screen. I have frame rails above a raised wood slat platform. I drape the Geotextile cloth over the side rails and let the center of it rest on the platform. I harvest my worms by hand from clusters around feedstock, so the side rail is at a convenient height for me to lean on while I harvest worms from the bed. I leave the ends of the beds laying open. The worms can easily crawl out over the sides or the ends, if they want to, but they don't. The only problems I have ever had with worms leaving the bed were with worms going straight down and out through too large a screen.
I then add an inch or two of worm castings from another active bed. My theory is that in nature, the composting worm is always working over a bed of castings, and that they are consuming material at the surface. What I found in practice was that if I did not have the castings below, the worms would go to the bottom then try to leave the bottom of the bin by squeezing through the screen. With the castings in place, the worms seem content to retreat there as needed and not go deeper.
I then add food stuffs. I feed in zones. My aim is to have various sections of the bed at different levels of activity all the time. I cover the whole bed with moistened burlap bags. This keeps the bed moist and helps to protect it from marauding Shama thrushes. The Shamas are so lovely that I hardly begrudge them a worm or two but I don't want them gorging on my worms.
Hot Zone: I have one hot zone of newly added food. It will be hot to the touch because bacterial activity is heating it up. Worms pretty much stay out of the hot zone. When I check the bed each day, I will spend some time spraying water on the hot zone to cool it down.
Warm Zone: I have another zone of food that is cooling down but is still warm. Worms will starting to nibble at the edges, particularly if the food is something they really like such as avocadoes, sweet passion fruits or mangoes. Interestingly when the burlap bags are breaking down, I will find large populations of hatchlings in the burlap bag and foodstuff material. The babies seem to like the warmer temperature than the adult worms. I think of it as an incubator effect.
Lukewarm Zone: The third zone is still slightly warm and the adult worms are seriously starting to consume the foodstuff. I will find knots of adult worms clustered around the foods they love, and the presence of castings provide the evidence that the worms are consuming all of the foodstuff. I find large populations of babies in this zone also.
Cool Zone: This is cool to the touch and I will find large concentrations of adult worms feasting in areas where there is cooled down food. I tend to find less babies in the cool zone. Over time, the proportion of finished castings in the cool zone increases and the amount of available food decreases. When the number of adult worms in the cool zone declines, it is time to add new feedstuff to this zone and start it off as a Hot Zone again. Any worms still remaining in the area will move to one of the other zones.
Often, when I add the foodstuff to the bin, I also throw in the plastic bag in which I transported the food. My worms seem to like the feel of the cool plastic and I will often find them hanging out in groups in the folds of the plastic.
FOODSTUFFS I USE:
HARVESTING FROM THE ZONE-STYLE BIN
Because we have a small operation, we harvest worms as we need them from the continuous production bin, rather than having a single cycle production bin which is harvested all at once. I harvest by finding the areas of high worm concentration and harvesting clumps of worms or babies. The worms will be concentrated around their favorite food stuffs, usually at the edges of the bed in the Lukewarm or Cool Zones. The babies will be concentrated in the material more in the center of the bed in the Lukewarm or Warm Zones.
WORM COMPOSTING PET WASTE
I have other worm bins which are used exclusively for the processing of our pets' waste for production of castings which are used only on ornamental plants. I have a "swag" type of bin and another that is a converted horse water tub. Pet waste takes some different techniques because it is so dense. I tend to cover the waste with leaves, grass clippings or chips to minimize fly breeding, and add some sweet waste like mangoes or papaya to give the worms variety. I generally don't water my pet waste bins unless they appear dry. After using my pet waste swag for several months, I was not sure what was happening in there and thought that my worms may have eloped, so I decided to dump out the swag and have a look. To my astonishment there was a large population of healthy Indian Blues in the center of the bin, not on the surface. My faith restored, I refilled the bin and am continuing to dispose of my pet waste in the bin.
There has been quite a lot of attention paid to non-point source pollution of waterways with pet waste contamination being identified as one of the sources. The near miraculous ability of worms to reduce pathogen levels in animal waste was reported in Worm Digest, see http://www.wormdigest.org/pathogens.html Worm composting of pet wastes and conversion of these materials into garden fertilizer really makes good sense for the environment.
WORM CASTINGS - Gardeners' Gold
We produce worm castings from horse manure mixed with the wood chip bedding from the stables. We let the worms do the work both in aerated piles on the ground and in 4' X 4' X 4' screened, aerated palette boxes with a suitable moisture level. We seed the material with worms. We usually have volunteer worm helpers like millipedes come in to help break down the woodier components. When the process is completed, rough worm castings still have some woody residues. For fine activities like soil blocks or seed germination in pots, I screen the material. The finished, screened casting material is a silky feeling material composed of tiny granules of aggregate humus bound together by the binding agent produced by the worm.
I have found that seeds germinate wonderfully well in worm castings, either in soil blocks or in pots. Vegetable seeds germinate with no damping off problems. Cuttings start faster for me in worm castings than in any other material. Also, I am able to start cuttings of some plants that normally don't root well at all. In addition, top dressing with worm castings help plants that are not thriving. I have a grape vine that has been in the ground for several years surviving but not thriving. When I top-dressed around the roots with a generous helping of worm castings, the vine began to take off.
I grow my organic vegetables in pure worm castings. I use no other fertilizers. See http://www.olomanagardens.com/organicvegetables1.htm
We sprinkle worm castings on our lawn and let it work its way down. We don't fertilize our lawn with anything else.
I am trying worm castings mixed in with the potting medium for my orchids. I can grow everything else pretty well but I am not really an orchid person, so if the orchids do well, I will owe it all to the castings.
CRITTERS IN THE WORM BIN (warning: my critter presentation has some large files. When I get some spare time, I'll reduce the file sizes to make the pictures load in a realistic time)
Every bin is a science project. There are a fascinating array of creatures in involved in the process. Some of them are nice, some of them are not so nice.
I even have a centipede in my bin. I used to worry that the centipedes would proliferate there, but they have not. I take off the burlap covering and my token centipede runs for cover. My husband laughingly tells people that his wife has made her peace with centipedes. The only things I consistently remove from my bins are slugs and garden snails. I take them over to my ducks.
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Page revised: 08/19/2005
