Missed this video first time around, Ro. I just got my first batch of ENC babies earlier this month. I'm looking forward to learning all about these gentle giants. ~ Sandra
Hi Ro! Great video! I’ve subbed ❤ It’s great that there’s a worm for everyone 🤩. My red wiggler breeders are pretty good sized and chonky from their diet of worm chow and veggie powder so I have no problem picking them out of the bin at cycle end 👍. I love that you’re trying the pre-compost! Did you do one cycle or 2? How many breeders do you have in your breeder bin? That’ll affect how quickly they can process the bedding too. I have around 850 breeders in about 2.25 gallons of bedding. I used to add more bedding but have scaled back to increase cocoon production ❤. Thanks for the shout out and I look forward to your next video 😍🪱😎
Thank you! My red Wigglers still stay pretty small. I’m just starting to experiment with worm chow and starting slow, as I have learned about the risk of protein poisoning/string of pearls and want to be sure to avoid that. Hopefully some day I can pick them out by hand easily too! For my pre-compost, it came from my large 5 bin system that I always have going. So it’s nearly, but not completely, finished compost. Then I did mix in some fresh mulched leaves just for a little extra texture/air flow, and a little lime and azomite for ph balance and grit. I have about 1.5 lbs/bin of breeder currently and about 1.5-2 inches of bedding. I did combine several of my red wiggler bins based on your recommendation, and it does seem to be helping! Perhaps I’ll try counting with the Euros and get around 850 in my bins as well. Always appreciate learning from you and other worm farmers!
@@RosWigglers It took me awhile to size up my red wigglers. Worm chow helped a lot. Giving them more room did too. Red wigglers can get almost as big as euros given time and space and food. They are cousins after all 👍 If you have about 1300 red wigglers in 1.5-2 inches of bedding and they’re mostly adults you’ll get lots of cocoons but the worms will stay on the smaller size for longer as it’s a little crowded. It’s all trade offs and what’s most important to you at the time. Great thing is you can mix it up and go for lots of cocoons one cycle and then switch to sizing up worms the next cycle as the main focus. Fun! 👍🪱
Hey Ro!! Thanks for the shout out.. I truly believe it helps them to get right back to producing cocoons. Another tip that I believe in is I never bother my breeding worms once I make the bed. I do not turn ( Fluff) the bed. I give them just enough chow and moisture to make the 21 days.. I’ve noticed I get a lot more cocoons that way.. try it and see what ya think!!🪱🪱🪱 I look forward to seeing ya again at the next conference!!
@@RosWigglers I completely concur with NOT disturbing the breeders once the bin is set for the 21 days. Mixing/aerating the bin separates pairs in the midst of hooking up and they have to start over. That reduces cocoons significantly. 🪱
I do this with the red wigglers. I scoop from the bottom and turn it over and pick them pretty quickly. Another benefit is that you can keep it wet for better breeding instead of drying it out and slowing them down.
I do love the castings more on the smaller worms but they do require more work to sift, however; I feel that the euro castings have a better porosity and will be easier to dry down for storage for agriculture eco-friendly fertilizer. The only worm that I’ll probably end up letting go is the African night crawlers because they require the heat and I do not want to have to run heat mats. I’m getting ready to set up a huge worm bin wagon for summer breeding and I’m just gonna toss them all in there for dynamic mix. I may try to sell my ANC to recoup my cost knowing they will day in the winter anyways.
Oh interesting! I’ll have to take a look at the difference in castings. I do currently have bins with red Wigglers only, Euros only, and a mix of the two. It’s fun to see how the 3 types compare and contrast! I haven’t tried African Nightcrawlers for the same reason. Though I AM curious and have been considering getting a small batch and putting them in an outdoor bin during our summer heat just to see how they do.
@@RosWigglers From all my observations the Euros match and surpass the Africans due to their need of heat, so Africans IMHO are for the southern warm states to breed and the Euros are for the northern temperatures, it’s all about cutting the footprint down so I’m gonna unplug the heat and say goodbye to the Africans if they can’t pull it through in the basement temperatures and be productive here. Reds and Euros for me and there are some blues mixed in. Next I will try for some speed of bedding breakdown to see if the euros will produce as much castings as the smaller ones do, only issue with the smaller ones for me is the extra sifting for the smaller cocoons. It will be interesting to see which ones I settle on. Have fun investigating all your species, I love what they can do. I love your happy soil, happy worms, happy plants, diddy but I’m throwing in the happy people in the end because man do we need to correct the mental status of so many these days and in order to do that….we need happy soil, happy worms, happy plants for nutrient dense food in order to correct chemical imbalances 💗 The worm people can do it 💪 🇺🇸 🪱
Missed this video first time around, Ro. I just got my first batch of ENC babies earlier this month. I'm looking forward to learning all about these gentle giants.
~ Sandra
Hi Ro! Great video! I’ve subbed ❤
It’s great that there’s a worm for everyone 🤩. My red wiggler breeders are pretty good sized and chonky from their diet of worm chow and veggie powder so I have no problem picking them out of the bin at cycle end 👍.
I love that you’re trying the pre-compost! Did you do one cycle or 2? How many breeders do you have in your breeder bin? That’ll affect how quickly they can process the bedding too. I have around 850 breeders in about 2.25 gallons of bedding. I used to add more bedding but have scaled back to increase cocoon production ❤.
Thanks for the shout out and I look forward to your next video 😍🪱😎
Thank you! My red Wigglers still stay pretty small. I’m just starting to experiment with worm chow and starting slow, as I have learned about the risk of protein poisoning/string of pearls and want to be sure to avoid that. Hopefully some day I can pick them out by hand easily too!
For my pre-compost, it came from my large 5 bin system that I always have going. So it’s nearly, but not completely, finished compost. Then I did mix in some fresh mulched leaves just for a little extra texture/air flow, and a little lime and azomite for ph balance and grit.
I have about 1.5 lbs/bin of breeder currently and about 1.5-2 inches of bedding. I did combine several of my red wiggler bins based on your recommendation, and it does seem to be helping! Perhaps I’ll try counting with the Euros and get around 850 in my bins as well. Always appreciate learning from you and other worm farmers!
@@RosWigglers It took me awhile to size up my red wigglers. Worm chow helped a lot. Giving them more room did too. Red wigglers can get almost as big as euros given time and space and food. They are cousins after all 👍
If you have about 1300 red wigglers in 1.5-2 inches of bedding and they’re mostly adults you’ll get lots of cocoons but the worms will stay on the smaller size for longer as it’s a little crowded. It’s all trade offs and what’s most important to you at the time. Great thing is you can mix it up and go for lots of cocoons one cycle and then switch to sizing up worms the next cycle as the main focus. Fun! 👍🪱
@@RockinWorms that definitely makes sense to me. Thanks!
Hey Ro!! Thanks for the shout out.. I truly believe it helps them to get right back to producing cocoons.
Another tip that I believe in is I never bother my breeding worms once I make the bed. I do not turn ( Fluff) the bed. I give them just enough chow and moisture to make the 21 days.. I’ve noticed I get a lot more cocoons that way.. try it and see what ya think!!🪱🪱🪱
I look forward to seeing ya again at the next conference!!
Of course! And thanks for the extra tip! I’ll give it a shot. Definitely hoping to make it to the next conference!
@@RosWigglers I completely concur with NOT disturbing the breeders once the bin is set for the 21 days. Mixing/aerating the bin separates pairs in the midst of hooking up and they have to start over. That reduces cocoons significantly. 🪱
@@RockinWorms absolutely!!!
I do this with the red wigglers. I scoop from the bottom and turn it over and pick them pretty quickly.
Another benefit is that you can keep it wet for better breeding instead of drying it out and slowing them down.
Brilliant!
I do love the castings more on the smaller worms but they do require more work to sift, however; I feel that the euro castings have a better porosity and will be easier to dry down for storage for agriculture eco-friendly fertilizer. The only worm that I’ll probably end up letting go is the African night crawlers because they require the heat and I do not want to have to run heat mats. I’m getting ready to set up a huge worm bin wagon for summer breeding and I’m just gonna toss them all in there for dynamic mix. I may try to sell my ANC to recoup my cost knowing they will day in the winter anyways.
Oh interesting! I’ll have to take a look at the difference in castings. I do currently have bins with red Wigglers only, Euros only, and a mix of the two. It’s fun to see how the 3 types compare and contrast!
I haven’t tried African Nightcrawlers for the same reason. Though I AM curious and have been considering getting a small batch and putting them in an outdoor bin during our summer heat just to see how they do.
@@RosWigglers From all my observations the Euros match and surpass the Africans due to their need of heat, so Africans IMHO are for the southern warm states to breed and the Euros are for the northern temperatures, it’s all about cutting the footprint down so I’m gonna unplug the heat and say goodbye to the Africans if they can’t pull it through in the basement temperatures and be productive here. Reds and Euros for me and there are some blues mixed in. Next I will try for some speed of bedding breakdown to see if the euros will produce as much castings as the smaller ones do, only issue with the smaller ones for me is the extra sifting for the smaller cocoons. It will be interesting to see which ones I settle on. Have fun investigating all your species, I love what they can do. I love your happy soil, happy worms, happy plants, diddy but I’m throwing in the happy people in the end because man do we need to correct the mental status of so many these days and in order to do that….we need happy soil, happy worms, happy plants for nutrient dense food in order to correct chemical imbalances 💗 The worm people can do it 💪 🇺🇸 🪱
My favourite worm breed for making good castings is European Nightcrawers and also easy to seperate by hand 🇳🇿🪱❤️
And don’t forget easier sifting of the castings from the cocoons 🪱 💗 🇺🇸