Please consider using the affiliate links below - they provide me with a small commission, at no additional cost to you, which helps to support this channel. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Donations to support this channel can also be made using PayPal here: www.paypal.me/AVworms THANK YOU! Some useful resources, supplies, materials and equipment for easier worm composting.: PLASTIC "bus box" / "bus bin" UTILITY TUBS : Rubbermaid 7 gallon - amzn.to/2QnT40J Artisan 2-pack -- amzn.to/2x3Fg4N Gabin 3-pack -- amzn.to/2TVy3N8 Eagrye 4-pack -- amzn.to/2IVjaE4 VERMIBAGS: Online store: www.vermibag.com/?wpam_id=42 COCO COIR: Hydro Crunch 5 kg / 11 lb block -- amzn.to/2QQu8yZ DISPOSABLE GLOVES: Safeguard 100-pack -- amzn.to/3a1fSLt MOSQUITO DUNKS / BITS (BTI) Link to search results -- amzn.to/3FqZaWt DIATOMACEOUS EARTH: 5 lb bag food grade with duster -- amzn.to/3hyJTFU 4 lb bag -- amzn.to/2CJ98GU NEEM CAKE 5 lb -- amzn.to/32TipW2 NEEM OIL 16 oz -- amzn.to/3uqgDrs 32 oz -- amzn.to/3uqgSTo 128 oz -- amzn.to/3dG6wbg SMALL PERSONAL BLENDERS: Magic Bullet -- amzn.to/3b7jlbF Ninja -- amzn.to/2TVWN7W NutriBullet -- amzn.to/2Wn5HwI SPRAY BOTTLES: Rayson 8 oz -- amzn.to/33nYfTG SEE-THROUGH COMPOST CONTAINERS: 3 chamber acrylic; includes 3 thermometers - amzn.to/2JBU9yj Rubbermaid file organizer - amzn.to/3IBJM9y "The Business & Biology Of Raising Composting Worms" by Duncan Carver Worm farming guide / manual. Also, learn how to make your garden thrive with worm composting: Signup for the FREE “Worm Farming Secrets” weekly email newsletter here: www.wormfarmingsecrets.com/av All online orders made using the links above are very much appreciated.
I don't really pay much attention to my Amazon affiliate links. Perhaps I should be more mindful of keeping them updated & relevant. The large pump sprayer is fairly large capacity & a bit clumsy to use sometimes. I see that somewhat smaller versions of it are available.. but I have no knowledge of what brands are good and not so good. I wonder if I should just put search result links out there rather than links to specific items... such as this: amzn.to/3Wk3pej
If you click any of the Amazon links and buy ANYTHING while in the CZcams app he will get the commission from whatever you purchase, even if it’s not listed, such as winter gloves or even a new TV. I try to remember this when ordering Amazon stuff but I’ve been slacking. This is a good reminder. I’ve been trying to spread this out using links from different channels. Need to order using this one next time.
My freezer stuff, is like watery. It over- waters my bins. I end up dumping good vegetable turned fluid into toilet. I can make a slurry or paste with it with Chicken Feed. Last thing you want is a mucky bin. Mi is an awesome STATE! I miss visiting the U.P.!
Have you tried blending them with some peat moss or manure? I got the idea from someone else. He recommended mixing the manure or peat moss to absorb the extra liquids and make that bedding more appealing because the microbes will feed on the “flavored” bedding more than just water wet bedding. Just a thought. My worms seem to go nuts when I do that and it’s gone very quickly without worrying about things getting too wet or stinky.
Breeder bins! Awesome! I'll preface my comment by saying this all comes from CZcamsUniversity and not from personal experience. So I think the idea that makes them extra productive is to sift the worms out after about 3 weeks (before the cocoons start hatching) and place those same breeding worms into fresh material, while allowing the bedding that's now inoculated with cocoons to hatch out and mature in a different space. Then just get into that 3 week rhythm, rinse and repeat. A note about this method is it really only works if you have the ability to sift materials and worms efficiently; if the breeder bin is started with material that is already sifted to 1/4", then it is much easier to sift out your breeding stock.
I got my hands on a large red mesh bag with a nice fine hole pattern. I'm trying to figure out how I can craft a screen out of it for getting the cocoons out of the stuff. I suppose I still have a couple weeks before I'll need it - but I have a feeling that it will be here before I know it :)
Ready....Fire.....Aim!!!! And paralysis by analysis are a couple of my favorite work says as well!! Perfectly describes some people I've worked with😂I talk myself into some pretty good ideas halfway through a project as well😂Oh I think you have at least a 800 to 1k in that bucket based on my painful counting of worms recently!! Yep...300, 300, 300 is my guess!! Excellent video AV!!🪱🪱🪱
Funny... I thought about how your worm count demo video might help me better quantify the worm counts. But when I realized that they would be commingled with a bunch of other stuff, I knew it wouldn't help me much in coming up with a precise count :) I wasn't really planning to keep track of the worm count questimates in this case... but perhaps I should
I’ve heard that it’s 100 red wigglers per gallon of bedding and 50 ENC’s due to the size difference. I’ve been doing 50 per gallon, I may try 100 to see if there’s much of a difference. Since space is becoming limited I wouldn’t mind having twice as many together but would be bummed if they produced the same number of cocoons as as fewer worms. I really need to sell some but it’s the off season for ENC’s here since everyone just want them for fishing.
I set up new Breeder bins today. I did 2 of each, one with 100 worms to 2 gallons of bedding and 200 worms to 2 gallons of bedding. We will see what happens in 21 days!
Hey AV! Just a few minutes into the vid, thought I’d ask if you suggest someone with 100% red wiggler bins to take on ENC bins? If so, what do you get out of it?
Hey EC! _(your middle name doesn't happen to begin with the letter 'N', does it?... anyhow......)_ For me the plunge into the breeding experiment with the ENCs is in part because my 300+ day old yellow ENC buckets were next in-line for getting something new. I have also been interested in seeing if I can take the experiment one step further by seeing if I can get the ENCs to grow large (ie. suitable for being used as bait). I have a relative who is now part owner of a marina & I was once asked about supplying worms for bait. I thought it would be cool if I could follow-up on the question with a confident, 'yes'. Other than that, I had no other real reasons for going into it with the ENCs. In fact, I've got red wigglers coming up next for needing a new gig, and I thought that the breeding experiment could continue on with them next :)
@@A-V nah, not middle initial N, but that would have been funny. :) And I get you when you say you’re doing things for the sake of experiments! As for bait worms, I’ve heard Red Wigglers are great for bait but I never seem to have fat bait thickness sized worms. I always assumed African nightcrawlers are where it’s at for bait, but they are so temp sensitive. You having a relative with ownership of a marina makes sense with you and your Firefly vids!
Thought I’d add my 2 cents here in case it’s helpful. To get really fat worms I use worm chow only (I use the recipe from The Garden & Worm Lady”, with a tweaks, I add powdered molasses and lots of leaves) and only add 1/4lb of worms for a bus bin. Keeping the bedding at about 3-4” deep (3-3.5 gallons), pretty moist and using a mix of chopped leaves-peat moss-shredded paper/cardboard-fine chopped straw works really well for me. They do breed a lot but not as much as the bins with more worms. I’ve been able to get tiny reds worms pretty fat so they work really well for all kinds of fish. Bass and catfish seem to LOVE the largest ENC’s! I hope that helps out a bit and you’re able to start selling some of your worms to the shop. I’ll be selling to our local bait next year. They bought out what I had available a couple months ago and when I checked in 6 weeks later they had completely sold out but fishing season is winding down and I didn’t have enough for their minimum purchase at that time. Can’t wait for next Spring! Best of luck to you!
Thanks for sharing these details. What I find very interesting is the inclusion of lots of leaves in your worm chow. I pre-fed the breeder buckets with coffee & I was going to pop in there again around day 6 or 7 to feed them - but I was unsure of what to use. Since the production of cocoons right now is the goal, and perhaps not so much the fattening up of the breeding worms, I suppose I can feed using kitchen scraps as I had planned. Once I have a newly hatched batch of ENCs in a couple weeks, I suppose it would be a good idea then to begin focusing on feeding them in a way that fattens them up right from the start :)
Hey AV, quick question, what's the main goal behind your systems? For example, some people just want to recycle more, some people want castings, some bait worms. etc. Just wondering what sparked your interest of this great hobby,. Thanks for the videos. Cheers.
My interest in gardening, and having the castings to give to my plants, was my initial motivations. As time goes by though, I feel more & more motivated my the deviation of compostable materials from the landfills. Thanks for watching!
I actually got into it because my eldest daughter had an interest in an elementary school project. She lost interest. I got hooked. My kids still like to check in on the worms but I do all the maintenance. I showed my youngest some sifted castings (I was feeling ambitious and was frequently sifting at the time). She ran her fingers through it, smelled it, asked a few times, "This is what the worms make with our trash?" and finally smiled and said, "It's like magic." Yep. . . Hooked. I use it all for my garden and lawn.
I like both of your guys’ stories! I feel like once you get started, you’re hooked lol. I prefer pet worms over a dog 😂😂 I’m in the same boat as AV, initially I just wanted better compost. Then the more I got into it the more I liked seeing how much less I had to throw the garbage out. I was just surprised that AV hasn’t tried starting up a vermicompost product. Where I’m at, there’s a bunch of farmers markets all the time, nobody has vermicompost. The main source here is Home Depot’s castings and we all know those don’t compare. At least, that’s what I’m hoping to do sometime down th road. For now I’m just learning, once I have a method that’s tried an true/scalable, I’m goong all in.
If I scale up my vermicomposting activities then I might be able to offload some of the castings - perhaps I should bag some of it up & try selling it on craigslist or on FB marketplace... :)
Please consider using the affiliate links below - they provide me with a small commission, at no additional cost to you, which helps to support this channel. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Donations to support this channel can also be made using PayPal here: www.paypal.me/AVworms THANK YOU!
Some useful resources, supplies, materials and equipment for easier worm composting.:
PLASTIC "bus box" / "bus bin" UTILITY TUBS :
Rubbermaid 7 gallon - amzn.to/2QnT40J
Artisan 2-pack -- amzn.to/2x3Fg4N
Gabin 3-pack -- amzn.to/2TVy3N8
Eagrye 4-pack -- amzn.to/2IVjaE4
VERMIBAGS:
Online store: www.vermibag.com/?wpam_id=42
COCO COIR:
Hydro Crunch 5 kg / 11 lb block -- amzn.to/2QQu8yZ
DISPOSABLE GLOVES:
Safeguard 100-pack -- amzn.to/3a1fSLt
MOSQUITO DUNKS / BITS (BTI)
Link to search results -- amzn.to/3FqZaWt
DIATOMACEOUS EARTH:
5 lb bag food grade with duster -- amzn.to/3hyJTFU
4 lb bag -- amzn.to/2CJ98GU
NEEM CAKE
5 lb -- amzn.to/32TipW2
NEEM OIL
16 oz -- amzn.to/3uqgDrs
32 oz -- amzn.to/3uqgSTo
128 oz -- amzn.to/3dG6wbg
SMALL PERSONAL BLENDERS:
Magic Bullet -- amzn.to/3b7jlbF
Ninja -- amzn.to/2TVWN7W
NutriBullet -- amzn.to/2Wn5HwI
SPRAY BOTTLES:
Rayson 8 oz -- amzn.to/33nYfTG
SEE-THROUGH COMPOST CONTAINERS:
3 chamber acrylic; includes 3 thermometers - amzn.to/2JBU9yj
Rubbermaid file organizer - amzn.to/3IBJM9y
"The Business & Biology Of Raising Composting Worms" by Duncan Carver
Worm farming guide / manual.
Also, learn how to make your garden thrive with worm composting: Signup for the FREE “Worm Farming Secrets” weekly email newsletter here: www.wormfarmingsecrets.com/av
All online orders made using the links above are very much appreciated.
Is your pump sprayer going into the store? Only saw the 8 oz
I don't really pay much attention to my Amazon affiliate links. Perhaps I should be more mindful of keeping them updated & relevant. The large pump sprayer is fairly large capacity & a bit clumsy to use sometimes. I see that somewhat smaller versions of it are available.. but I have no knowledge of what brands are good and not so good. I wonder if I should just put search result links out there rather than links to specific items... such as this: amzn.to/3Wk3pej
If you click any of the Amazon links and buy ANYTHING while in the CZcams app he will get the commission from whatever you purchase, even if it’s not listed, such as winter gloves or even a new TV. I try to remember this when ordering Amazon stuff but I’ve been slacking. This is a good reminder. I’ve been trying to spread this out using links from different channels. Need to order using this one next time.
My freezer stuff, is like watery. It over- waters my bins. I end up dumping good vegetable turned fluid into toilet. I can make a slurry or paste with it with Chicken Feed. Last thing you want is a mucky bin. Mi is an awesome STATE! I miss visiting the U.P.!
Shame about the veggies that had to get dumped & the muddiness is causes. Better luck next time!
Have you tried blending them with some peat moss or manure? I got the idea from someone else. He recommended mixing the manure or peat moss to absorb the extra liquids and make that bedding more appealing because the microbes will feed on the “flavored” bedding more than just water wet bedding. Just a thought. My worms seem to go nuts when I do that and it’s gone very quickly without worrying about things getting too wet or stinky.
Breeder bins! Awesome! I'll preface my comment by saying this all comes from CZcamsUniversity and not from personal experience.
So I think the idea that makes them extra productive is to sift the worms out after about 3 weeks (before the cocoons start hatching) and place those same breeding worms into fresh material, while allowing the bedding that's now inoculated with cocoons to hatch out and mature in a different space. Then just get into that 3 week rhythm, rinse and repeat. A note about this method is it really only works if you have the ability to sift materials and worms efficiently; if the breeder bin is started with material that is already sifted to 1/4", then it is much easier to sift out your breeding stock.
I got my hands on a large red mesh bag with a nice fine hole pattern. I'm trying to figure out how I can craft a screen out of it for getting the cocoons out of the stuff. I suppose I still have a couple weeks before I'll need it - but I have a feeling that it will be here before I know it :)
@@A-V Do you have a few pieces of scrap wood and some building skills? Maybe fashion a wooden frame to hold the mesh?
I've already got a couple ideas - I just haven't pulled the trigger yet on trying to assemble something. Soon... soon.... :)
Ready....Fire.....Aim!!!! And paralysis by analysis are a couple of my favorite work says as well!! Perfectly describes some people I've worked with😂I talk myself into some pretty good ideas halfway through a project as well😂Oh I think you have at least a 800 to 1k in that bucket based on my painful counting of worms recently!! Yep...300, 300, 300 is my guess!! Excellent video AV!!🪱🪱🪱
Funny... I thought about how your worm count demo video might help me better quantify the worm counts. But when I realized that they would be commingled with a bunch of other stuff, I knew it wouldn't help me much in coming up with a precise count :) I wasn't really planning to keep track of the worm count questimates in this case... but perhaps I should
I’ve heard that it’s 100 red wigglers per gallon of bedding and 50 ENC’s due to the size difference. I’ve been doing 50 per gallon, I may try 100 to see if there’s much of a difference. Since space is becoming limited I wouldn’t mind having twice as many together but would be bummed if they produced the same number of cocoons as as fewer worms. I really need to sell some but it’s the off season for ENC’s here since everyone just want them for fishing.
Interesting... I have only heard of 100 per gallon - but then again, I have not done very much research on the topic yet :)
I set up new Breeder bins today. I did 2 of each, one with 100 worms to 2 gallons of bedding and 200 worms to 2 gallons of bedding. We will see what happens in 21 days!
Excellent! :)
Good analogy, worm farming is sort of like cooking. If you have breeder bins that means more worms. You might need that other shelf soon. 🫣
Yeah... seriously! Or maybe it's time to put that CFT bag back into service :)
Hey AV! Just a few minutes into the vid, thought I’d ask if you suggest someone with 100% red wiggler bins to take on ENC bins? If so, what do you get out of it?
Hey EC! _(your middle name doesn't happen to begin with the letter 'N', does it?... anyhow......)_ For me the plunge into the breeding experiment with the ENCs is in part because my 300+ day old yellow ENC buckets were next in-line for getting something new. I have also been interested in seeing if I can take the experiment one step further by seeing if I can get the ENCs to grow large (ie. suitable for being used as bait). I have a relative who is now part owner of a marina & I was once asked about supplying worms for bait. I thought it would be cool if I could follow-up on the question with a confident, 'yes'. Other than that, I had no other real reasons for going into it with the ENCs. In fact, I've got red wigglers coming up next for needing a new gig, and I thought that the breeding experiment could continue on with them next :)
@@A-V nah, not middle initial N, but that would have been funny. :)
And I get you when you say you’re doing things for the sake of experiments! As for bait worms, I’ve heard Red Wigglers are great for bait but I never seem to have fat bait thickness sized worms. I always assumed African nightcrawlers are where it’s at for bait, but they are so temp sensitive.
You having a relative with ownership of a marina makes sense with you and your Firefly vids!
The relative is actually an in-law out in Ohio. He's actually more into large power yachts, not so much a sailor :)
Thought I’d add my 2 cents here in case it’s helpful. To get really fat worms I use worm chow only (I use the recipe from The Garden & Worm Lady”, with a tweaks, I add powdered molasses and lots of leaves) and only add 1/4lb of worms for a bus bin. Keeping the bedding at about 3-4” deep (3-3.5 gallons), pretty moist and using a mix of chopped leaves-peat moss-shredded paper/cardboard-fine chopped straw works really well for me. They do breed a lot but not as much as the bins with more worms. I’ve been able to get tiny reds worms pretty fat so they work really well for all kinds of fish. Bass and catfish seem to LOVE the largest ENC’s!
I hope that helps out a bit and you’re able to start selling some of your worms to the shop. I’ll be selling to our local bait next year. They bought out what I had available a couple months ago and when I checked in 6 weeks later they had completely sold out but fishing season is winding down and I didn’t have enough for their minimum purchase at that time. Can’t wait for next Spring! Best of luck to you!
Thanks for sharing these details. What I find very interesting is the inclusion of lots of leaves in your worm chow. I pre-fed the breeder buckets with coffee & I was going to pop in there again around day 6 or 7 to feed them - but I was unsure of what to use. Since the production of cocoons right now is the goal, and perhaps not so much the fattening up of the breeding worms, I suppose I can feed using kitchen scraps as I had planned. Once I have a newly hatched batch of ENCs in a couple weeks, I suppose it would be a good idea then to begin focusing on feeding them in a way that fattens them up right from the start :)
Hey AV, quick question, what's the main goal behind your systems? For example, some people just want to recycle more, some people want castings, some bait worms. etc. Just wondering what sparked your interest of this great hobby,. Thanks for the videos. Cheers.
My interest in gardening, and having the castings to give to my plants, was my initial motivations. As time goes by though, I feel more & more motivated my the deviation of compostable materials from the landfills. Thanks for watching!
I actually got into it because my eldest daughter had an interest in an elementary school project. She lost interest. I got hooked. My kids still like to check in on the worms but I do all the maintenance. I showed my youngest some sifted castings (I was feeling ambitious and was frequently sifting at the time). She ran her fingers through it, smelled it, asked a few times, "This is what the worms make with our trash?" and finally smiled and said, "It's like magic."
Yep. . . Hooked. I use it all for my garden and lawn.
I like both of your guys’ stories! I feel like once you get started, you’re hooked lol. I prefer pet worms over a dog 😂😂
I’m in the same boat as AV, initially I just wanted better compost. Then the more I got into it the more I liked seeing how much less I had to throw the garbage out. I was just surprised that AV hasn’t tried starting up a vermicompost product. Where I’m at, there’s a bunch of farmers markets all the time, nobody has vermicompost. The main source here is Home Depot’s castings and we all know those don’t compare. At least, that’s what I’m hoping to do sometime down th road. For now I’m just learning, once I have a method that’s tried an true/scalable, I’m goong all in.
She's 100% correct - it *is* kinda like magic :)
If I scale up my vermicomposting activities then I might be able to offload some of the castings - perhaps I should bag some of it up & try selling it on craigslist or on FB marketplace... :)
WTF?