How to Raise Red Worms
Worm farming is gaining popularity. If you want to get into the business, you have to learn how to take care of red worms which happen to be the best producers of fertilizer for the soil.
To do that, you have to build your own worm bin. This consists of several boxes, shredded newspaper, and a strip of insect screen as well as the red worms. You can probably find the first two in your garage, the third from the hardware store and the last in a nursery.
When you have all the materials, put a few holes on the top and bottom of the bin and then throw in the shredded newspaper inside the container to serve as the bedding. You can also potting mix or use both at the same time. Once the red worms are inside, cover the top with a lid because these creatures don’t like sunlight.
Unlike the cat, dog or fish you bought from the pet store, you don’t have to feed red worms right away. You can wait about 3 to 4 days before giving them food and since you don’t know yet how much they can consume, put in a small amount first and then gauge how much more should be added to their diet.
If there are big and small red worms, put some food on the outside edges since the adult red worms prefer to hang out there while the younger ones prefer to get food from the center.
The food that is given to red worms is much different that what you will normally find in the pet store. This is because they only eat things that will naturally compost. A few examples of these include coffee grounds, grass clippings, manure, rabbit pellets, vacuum dust and vegetable matter. Never give your red worms dairy products, meats and certain vegetables like onion.
Just like other household pets, red worms also need some water so water them from time to time but make sure that it is not too soggy. Although they like water, too much could drown your little pets.
Red worms are sold by the pound and one pound is about 1,000 red worms. That population will double in 2 to 3 months and while some say that they have a way of regulating their population, it wouldn’t hurt to transfer some to another container.
If there is no space anymore to relocate your red worms, you can try out what other people have done and that is to sell red worms. After all, the waste or vermicast they produce are great for the soil so you can help others save money by trying out this home made fertilizer instead of buying this from the store.
The other option to control the red worm population is to use them as fish bait. Although some people will argue that another variety of worm known as the European Night Crawler is better to catch fish, you will surely be able to catch a few with your homemade variety.
Raising red worms takes a lot of hard work so watch them regularly. Make sure that there is sufficient food available and their bedding is just right because this is the only way to have a successful worm farm.
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