1,000 worms on their way....

Excitement! Excitement!
This morning I am going to harvest castings from my Wiggler Hilton, set up in August.

Kelejan wrote:Excitement! Excitement!
This morning I am going to harvest castings from my Wiggler Hilton, set up in August.

Pictures! We must have PICTURES!

Yes indeed show us the worm gold!

Sorry people, cannot show you pictures just yet. I do have a digital camera somewhere but have mislaid the battery charger and so far have not learned how to post picures even though I am sure that once I get the hang of it I will wonder why on earth I did not do it before. So, just imagine a heap of nearly 7 pounds of castings.

Some thoughts:the castings were quite dry which I think means that I should have kept my Wiggler Hilton a bit more moist.
No cocoons there. No mature worms because none of them had that band around the middle. Clitella? But, there were some nice groups of worms all huddled together in the cardboard, and just hundreds and hundreds of little worms. My feeling is that the worms I harvested from my compost pile in August were mature worms that laid the cocoons, and all these little worms are the result of that. The mature worms have gone to that huge wormery up above.

It took me quite a while to harvest them as I went through them spoonful by spoonful picking out anything to was definately not a wormcast, e.g. worms, newspaper bedding, a few eggshell bits, little pieces of stick etc., because I want to package some of them for Christmas presents.

I can't say it was all castings, so I am content to say it is vermicompost.

I have redone the Wiggler Hilton and now they are all ready to settle down, the little worms to grow up, and so the next cycle begins.

Meanwhile the pile of castings will be covered and some melon skins put on top just in case any little worm want to join its fellows in the Wiggler Hilton.

Congrats Kelejan on the harvest......7 pounds wow

sounds like happy residents in your Hilton Kelejan!

We brought our bin in for a little peak.....yes they are still outside in our small green house .....i thought for sure they wouldnt survive out there....but..hubby kept telling me to remember that the worms survived all winter long in our compost tumbler.....with no fussing over them.....so i hate to admit we are experimenting with our worm family to see if they will indeed survive outside in their bin .....we gave them a good feed and a lot of fresh bedding made up of cardboard, news paper and shredded paper....and so far they seem to be doing fine if this works out we may end up building an outside composting worm bin

happy gardening
rose

Kelejan wrote:.... So, just imagine a heap of nearly 7 pounds of castings.
Terrific and congratulations! I can relate to the amount of time it takes to hand sift. Looking at the stuff my guys produced, I remember thinking it would take maybe an hour but it was much longer.

... hundreds and hundreds of little worms. My feeling is that the worms I harvested from my compost pile in August were mature worms that laid the cocoons, and all these little worms are the result of that. The mature worms have gone to that huge wormery up above.
Maybe it was on the dry side like you mentioned. Somewhere in "Bentleys" writings he mentions about a learning curve and how redworms are great at adapting and bouncing back too. Personally I find that a comfort with only 9 months experience myself.
I have redone the Wiggler Hilton and now they are all ready to settle down, the little worms to grow up, and so the next cycle begins.

Meanwhile the pile of castings will be covered and some melon skins put on top just in case any little worm want to join its fellows in the Wiggler Hilton.

Nothing like more free worms! Again, congratulations.

Thanks for your encouragement, LM

I gave some of my castings as Christmas gifts which were much appreciated by by my friends who supported me with their offerings of veggies etc. on a regular basis.
I also gave some to some to new neighbours who invited me to their family gathering on Christmas Eve, thinking they could add them to their indoor plants. Unfortunately, I discovered that all their indoor plants were plastic. In additon, I also gave them a couple of bottles of my wine, a red and a white; they did not drink, either. Memo, get to know your neighbours a bit better before giving home produced gifts that take a lot of work and time to make.

Seeing the worm posts got me thinking, gee I don't have any.
Another thing to go on my todo list when I get home.
Semper Fi

Kelejan
sure wish you were my neighbor. I would have given you some of my home made chocolate candies.
Al

Boz wrote:Kelejan
sure wish you were my neighbor. I would have given you some of my home made chocolate candies.
Al

Your'e welcome to come here Boz. I love chocolate.
Boz, why not have a go and make your own worm bin so that you make make enough for your immediate needs. You know we will give you all the advice you need, (says this 4-month experienced worm farmer. ) I gave away four one-pound baggies and that leaves me with nearly three pounds for myself which I intend to use when I start some seeds etc. By the time spring arrives, about end April here, my little army of slaves will have produced a few more pounds, and hopefully multiplied so that I can start another Wiggler Hilton. Then there will be the excitement of turning my compost the first time to see if my experiment with the giant worm-tubes has yielded any good results.

Kelejan
I have lots of worms and VC but no home made wine.
Al

Kelejan wrote:

Boz wrote:Kelejan
sure wish you were my neighbor. I would have given you some of my home made chocolate candies.
Al

Your'e welcome to come here Boz. I love chocolate.
Boz, why not have a go and make your own worm bin so that you make make enough for your immediate needs. You know we will give you all the advice you need, (says this 4-month experienced worm farmer. ) I gave away four one-pound baggies and that leaves me with nearly three pounds for myself which I intend to use when I start some seeds etc. By the time spring arrives, about end April here, my little army of slaves will have produced a few more pounds, and hopefully multiplied so that I can start another Wiggler Hilton. Then there will be the excitement of turning my compost the first time to see if my experiment with the giant worm-tubes has yielded any good results.

.....poor things...all that hard work

Quote .....poor things...all that hard work

They get free board and lodging, Family Gardening, and I haven't heard any complaints yet. Like the rest of us, they don't realize they are slaves. They can at as much as they like and don't have to work very hard.

happy gardening
rose...... who is happy kelejan didnt bring up the fact that our worm family is outside in the green house and there is snow on the ground!

I have a question about worms. I have had mine for a year now and have expanded my production into several bins. IN the fall I left several of the MYSTERY squashes out and they froze.... and so I thought that if I left them frozen and then thawed them just before I put them on the worm farm, that I would be safe ......NOT!!!!
I have gazzillions of fruit flies now. The squash were huge and I like how the worms just eat their way through them and leave the outside "roof" I thought since the roof actually covers them that they would not attract fruit flies, but they did. I have them down in the furnace room where it is warm, and the worms LOVE IT. They are growing like crazy. But so are the fruit flies. I seldom come out of there without a fly in my mouth or something. ANY thoughts??? I have tried covering with extra layers of paper and I have set out a variety of fruit fly traps. Janet who is frustrated with fruit flies.

If I understand you correctly the squashes froze outdoors and you fed them to your indoor worms, and have all those fruit flies. It sounds like the little eggs/larvae were able to somehow survive the outdoors, then the favorable warm indoor temps stimulated a mass hatching out. (guessing here...)
So How about this - defrost the outdoor frozen pieces in a plastic bag then refreeze in your freezer for another day or so? That's what I would try. I am glad you shared this because I have some pumpkins left over that are headed for the compost heap and worm bins. They have been frozen,thawed and and re-frozen outside. So I think I'll bag up and re-freeze those pieces before feeding it my worms. If we both do this it'll be nice to see the results and compare notes.
Anyone else have any ideas??

LM
It is SOOOO cool watching the little worms in the HUGE squash. SOME pumpkin got into my zucchini patch or something and I ended up with massive like 3 feet long ORANGE zucchinis so I slice them in half and set them on top of the worm bed. THEN 2 weeks later the hard shell is empty.
I have no room in my freezer anymore with all of my harvesting. It is supposed to get VERY cold here later on this week, so that likely will kill the larvae ..janet

Glad for those temperatures - that sounds like it will work!
Here in central Ohio this week we are in a crazy warm up phase of sorts, 30's and 40's, then 50's coming on Friday. I'm chopping up and re-freezing pumpkins, please let me know how it turns out for you.

Yes i am thinking that perhaps even though the squash were frozen outside they likely were not frozen enough??? Any one else thoughts about fruit fly problem?

Seal the squash in plastic bags and leave it outside. Or bring it in in the bags to defrost then throw the bags back outside to refreeze. Maybe the lack of oxygen and the thawing & refreezing will kill the nasty little buggers.

I took all of my containers outside for a few hours yesterday, as the temps are hovering around freezing, just a bit above.
I am not sure how long the worms can take it outside, so I went out and got them. HMMMMM maybe I will try that, take all of the present food in the bed and bag it and put it in the freezer... I will let you know how it works.
ANd if anyone knows how to build a fruit fly trap I have a few plans, AND have found out that they like pink wine instead of either red or white

GWN
My approach to eliminating unwanted flying critters is to deprive them of a place to bred. I cover my bins with cloth, like old sheers. Then I open them ever day long enough to let the critters out then close them up. I have used flypaper and traps to trap them. The critters will continue to emerge until all the eggs have hatched then its over, until next time.
good luck

Thanks Boz.
That is sort of what I just did. I used an old fleece blanket though ?? I figured that you just needed enough air not to smother the worms, but not enough to provide a flying space for the flies.??
I read that they live for 2-4 days.... good news..
They lay 2000 eggs.... Bad news
They are not good at finding their way in a bag...good news.
Apparently that is why you want the thick layer of shred papers because apparently fruit flies do not burrow, so if the fruit (or worm food) is under some shredded papers the fruit flies will not bother. So Boz how long did you find it took to clear up the infestation. My DH has been very patient but I am afraid he might gently suggest one day that perhaps they should go out in the greenhouse.

If you cut a piece of cardboard to fit top of worm bin, of just use flat paper,not shredded, and put on top over worms, press it down gently, so it makes contact with the soil, the fruit flies will go away. the thicker the better. You can lift this up and put food and shredded paper under this. It does help to freeze or microwave food, especially fruit, before putting in bin.
Jo