I just started my first attempt at worm farming in two 5-gallon buckets. I have been trying to figure out a way to move into a method that allows easier harvesting of the worm castings and this is the answer. Thanks for posting Rob!
I keep mine in 4gal buckets with loosely fitting lids under the house & away from the sun... This loose lid lets air in & black solider flies out.. I have kept them in there for a few months & still found "happy" worms when I use the castings.. There is always a bit of uneaten manure in there so they continue to have food to feed on.. Hope that helps some... Gave a great one Sir..
Yep, helps a bunch. I used horse manure as well to start mine,, but I used the manure out of ignorance and lucked up. After hearing that you use it and have success , I will continue to use it as I have it readily available for free. I thanks man. I subscribed and ill keep you posted.
Have added garden lime once or twice to the old tiered farm but find it's not needed it in the larger ones. A very fine dusting over the top when it started to smell a bit is all that's needed. Not feeding until all the food was consumed helps as well. The odours might depend on the type & amount of food your adding too. When a lot of broccoli trimmings are added to our farm it can get a bit smelly but it dissipates in a day or 2. Hope that helps some & let me know how you go. Rob.
We get the little white critters you can see on the castings in the clip as well as fruit gnats hanging around but they really are not a big problem.. We have had black solider fly larvae in there at times but we pick them out & feed them to the chooks or fish if they are young enough.. Solider flies are another great way to compost.. There is normally a gecko or a small skink in there as well but I don't don't mind them grabbing a worm or 2 to munch on.. Hope that helps some & have a great one.
Can't go past them as a fertiliser or growing medium I think Larry.. Used to grow in ½ potting mix & ½ castings in containers when we were renting & they were some of the best plants we ever grew.. Have a good one :)
Hi Louise.. There is a link to the "how to build" clip at about 1:18 into the clip or you can find it by searching "How to build a bathtub worm farm... " The frame was made from reclaimed chairs we had saved but it would work just as well sitting on some besser/cinder blocks.. You were close on the lid, it was a sliding screen door that was cut down to size & covered with weed mat/cloth to keep out the light.. Hope that helps some & let me know if you want any more info.. Have a good one..
Large barrels cut in ½ (either way) or large bins (like the ones on wheels) work really well too Natalie.. I have used broccoli boxes as worm farms in the past as well with great results.. They are set up fairly much the same way as the bathtub bed with some rocks in the bottom for the drainage & some weed cloth on top to keep the manure/bedding falling through.. Hope that helps :)
I don't add any water to the worm farms under the house after the initial set up... The food adds the majority of the moister they need I have found.. The barrels that are outside do tend to dry out a little if we have a dry spell so I have given then a quick spray with the hose at times when they need it.. Hope that helps, RB..
Probably be a bit cold in Michigan.. I add the castings to the beds & haven't really looked into Bokashi.. I do know a few people that do use that system & like it..
At least your starting coming into summer.. I want to start another but don't know how they will go now its starting to cool down here a bit.. Hope the breed fast & furiously for you Paula... Have a great one.. :)
I would think I would have to have well over a pound in there but wouldn't like to guess at the numbers.. Harvesting would depend on the amount of food & reproduction.. This is something I was planing to look into but never followed through with due to the time & resources needed to feed the number of fish we have would be very high.. I would like to have a crack at some more red claw so might look at harvesting some for them... Few other projects to sort out first though..
I used to have feeding stations be we wouldn't generate enough waste for 16+ beds & all the barrels.. I think that they get more than enough feeding on the different mulches & manures we spread on the beds a few times a year.. Our beds are also "Wicking beds" so are closed systems... Once they are in they are in for good :) Captive workers so to speak :)
There is some shade cloth glued in place over the plug hole with silicone to stop a passing worn from falling through but they could also squeeze through if they really want to.. I think I show that in the "how to" clip in the description box above if your interested. I have found that as long as there are loads of food available to them they generally don't venture down to the base of the farm that much.. Have a good one..
We constantly produce castings faster using the manure than people we know that just use the bedding & feed scraps to their worms.. I also use grass clippings in the ½ barrels we have sitting in the open in the yard & they power through that as well... Hope that helps some.. Cheers.
I prefer to use the castings themselves as it is easier to use to tell you the truth.. I have tried using casting teas & leachate but I didn't really see much of a response from the plants but I was probably doing it wrong.. Will be brewing some more teas with molasses again soon though as I have another 2 trays of castings to take from the 2 tiered worm farm.. Will have loads to experiment with methinks.. Hope your build goes well & it would be good to see a clip on it.. Have a good one..
I have seen a chap use a mower to mulch up manure & grass clippings at the community garden but it didn't click to do that here... Shall use the mower on the next bag & see how it goes...I do predict that the lawn will get very green where I do it :D Thanks for pointing that out :)
Dear Mr Rob Bob, really enjoyed your videos, so much so that I decided to set up some of my own a few months ago in April at my allotment. The bed you are looking at is under my favorite cider apple tree which produced a marvelous harvest this year. There are plenty of Eisenia foetida, Eisenia veneta and Lubricus terrestris around my plot already as I do a lot of composting, however I also got a couple cartons of the anglers' worms (gold tips, European night crawler) which are supposed to be good for worm farming too (when I got them back I couldn't help feeling sorry for them in that little carton) anyway I set them free in the bed - cardboard laid at the base, 5 inches of matured horse manure, cardboard covering the top, then some straw and the another board sitting on t of the bed for more shade etc. I kept it moist and they romped around the bed for 5 months then last week they just disappeared, I have a suspicion someone raided the bed but they may just have left. Anyway MY QUESTION is if the resulting castes are ready yet (my profile pic), it looks a bit brown to me but doesn't smell of manure anymore, some of the straw bedding has got mixed into it which I guess I could remove....thanks for any advice :) E
We don't eat a lot of rice so haven't sorry.. I can't see why they wouldn't like it, they love starchy breads.. Probably not a good idea to add too much the first time if your going to try just in case it sits there & rots if they don't like it.. Thanks for asking & I will give it a try next time we cook some up.. All the best, Rob.
I Have had that problem in the past as well... Have you put any fresh bedding into the top tray ?? I like to fill the top tray with broken up manure or coconut fibre & if you can add some fresh food on top that will also help move them up faster.. The manure will shrink down over time so there will be more than enough room for more food.. Let us know how you go which ever way you try..
Hi there.. I show how many went into the build clip I made.. Pop MvIWLu3o5OY into the YT search & the clip should come up.. At 7:32 in the clip I empty a ½gal container of worms in but have no idea of the weight sorry.. First harvest was at about 3-4 months from memory.. I only do ½ the bed at a time though so some worms are left to breed up again.. Hope that helps some.. Our casting production is increased by using horse manure as bedding I think.. TBC
In the bath tub there would have to be at least a 1kg/2lb of worms I would think.. Is a bit hard to put a definite amount on it.. It doesn't take long for them to multiply when the weather warms up here.. Hope that helps, Rob :)
We have included a bit of ash that comes from our little out side brazier but not in large quantities as we don't burn it often.. I do have some bio char that I keep forgetting to add but will be putting it in a bed or 2 to see how it goes over winter.. Do you mean adding the alcohol to the compost tea ?? I have never head of that but would be interested in what you have to say on it... Have a good one..
Good question.. Just went for a look as I had no idea. It appears that some don't recommend using nitrophoska as it can harm worms. I googled "nitrophoska worms" & a few post came up saying that it can harm earth worms. If it were me I wouldn't use it. You could do an experiment over 3 or 4 weeks in an ice cream container with some worms & the coir in question to find out for yourself. Sorry I have no conclusive answer on that but if you do the experiment I would love to know how it turns out.
hello, I'm just starting a worm farm now. I love your videos! I am planning on making a bathtub farm (or two).. thank you very much for such great information..
I don't find I need anything covering these guys in the tub.. I do cover the worms in the barrels down the back though with about a foot of lawn clippings to keep the light down.. The bath has processed the manure quicker & given us some of the best castings of all the farms we have had.. Have a good one..
Hi Kyle.. Can take a while for their numbers increase in quantity enough to make a big dent on the food offered.. What sort of bedding do you have in the farm ? Just be careful not to over feed them as rotting food in the farm is not the best situation to have..
The liquid that gets collected from the farm gets watered down & used as fertiliser on the veggie beds.. You can also use it to boost your compost tea.. Hope that helps :)
As a tea it is more readily available for uptake to plants as I understand it Jim.. It also gets super charged when you add molasses to the tea brew.. The molasses feeds the beneficial bacteria that help make nutrients more available to the plants.. Really should try to find some research that explains it in full... **adds another job to the list** :D Have a good one Jim..
Wow awesome! Seems like the easiest way to get to the castings! If I had a worm bin I wouldn't fret about some stragglers and eggs getting into my garden either. I'd welcome it! :-)
That's a good system you have with the bathtub, Rob Bob. It's much easier than your barrels. The worms seem to be thriving even with the lack of oxygen holes in the bottom sides of the tub. You might get better results if you bury the food and don't soak it so much. Keep it only as moist as a rung out sponge.
Hi again Alan :) Have also started to bury the feed about an inch into the bedding & found they mow through it faster ;) Mentioned that in one of the latest worm clips.. Thanks for the heads up though, Cheers.. Rob :)
You should use both hands when you work in those castings Rob. As rich as that stuff is your left hand is going to start growing again and you will need to start buying 2 pair of gloves so that they fit properly.
+Thomas Scarbrough Hey Thomas. Thanld you';re enjoying the clips. At the moment we're in Summer so its fairly warm. Over the past week or so we've been having temps between 27-33°C/80.6-91.4°F. Night time temps drop down to about 18-25°C/64.4-77°F. Bit laid back here at the moment as Bianca is on holidays for a week or so which is great. All the best mate & have a great one. Rob.
I did have a small one set up when I was worried about separating out the worms but I don't really worry now Anthony. I use the migration feeding method now & wait until the bulk of the worms are feeding up one of the bed. The bedding/castings from the other end is removed with worms & cocoons still in there then added to the gardens. We heavily mulch the garden beds so there is always some food in them for the worms to feed on too. 👍 Cheers mate.
Yea there's a lot of different vids out there, and some pretty average explanations... I'm just starting out in a stacked broccoli box 'breeder/feeder' and soon will invest in a horizontal design like yours, maybe 2m surface area. I will use the worms to feed feeder fish (gudgeon) for redclaw & table fish (barra). So your video has been very helpful in witnessing the basics in worm behaviour etc... thanks again!
backyardbean65 further up the comments here mentioned using a lawnmower & catcher to break up the manure... Might help if you have a bit to do... Have a great one & hope you enjoyed your B'day :)
looks great!! I wonder how much that bath tub weighs lol wish I had the room to make one, too hot here in Arizona. We do have a smaller tote worm bin inside the house which is so much fun! take care!!
Hello and thanks so much for all your info. I just started my first worm bed and have much to learn. I really enjoy all your videos and will put the information to good use. I'm starting with 1 pound of Euro Worms so it'll be interesting to see how things progress. I hope I can ask you a few questions as they come up? Here is Wisconsin we have about 5-6 months of below freezing weather so my worm bed will be kept indoors. Okay Rob Bob, thanks again!
Hi there Edward.. Hope the farm goes well for you there & feel free to ask.. I can get a bit behind on the comments & questions at times though just to warn you ;-) Cheers & have a great one..
Hey i understand your raising the worms in the bathtub. I see how everything is set up. It looks very simple and you have been explaining everything so well. BUT my only question is.. How do the worms get in there?? haha I am only at minute 2:35 so you might end up answering my question in the video. I'm finish watching it now.
I love the bathtub idea! Great video...thanks. One question, do you have any filter or screen covering the drain? I'm thinking the worms might also fall through... :)
Your bathtub worm farm is so impressive I am worm envy! You mentioned feeding pumpkin purée to the right side of the tub which takes care of the greens. Do you not add Brown materials as well?
Hey Jon. We were feeding every few days with saved up scraps from the kitchen. They were also living in well-aged horse manure so had plenty to feed on in there as well. Harvest wish. I was clearing out ½ of the bath farm every 2-3 months but that was due to having a very healthy population of worms as well. A new bath farm may take a bit longer if you're starting out. Hope taht healps some.
Hi Rob, great video thank you. Do you have any videos showing how to make the metal frame for a metal beginner please? Also the cover, did you just use an old glass door? Thanks :D Louise
Hi Rob, I have a worm cafe, it's going well and worms seem happy, bottom tray is full, but they don't stay up in the 2nd tray, how can I get them started on filling up the 2nd tray, great videos and advice, keep it going cheers, worm tea has been amazing for our garden.
Great video! I'd love to be able to keep my worms out of doors all year but it's too cold here so until summer they are living in my bathroom. I bury their food under some of the bedding to keep flies away, do you have any bug problems feeding on the top of the bin?
hey m8.. love your videos, very informative! I got two bath tubs and I plan to put it all into place the first week of March.. I have planned on using the worm juice by drilling holes at the end and putting them on a slant. I see that you use the casing's and compost more. What is your thoughts on the quality between the two? Is it more beneficial to go with one type of worm usage over the other? Keep posting! I love to watch and learn from your work! Much love from the states.
For those of you starting out, you can learn from one of my major mistakes. Yesterday we had a massive rain and plenty of water must have seeped through the air holes on the top. The worms were flooded! I lost maybe 50% of them. The mistake I made was that the drainage holes I drilled on the bottom were too small and too few. Drainage is crucial!
Oh just a question also, in an area say the size of your bathtub, how many worms do you think you would have? And app. how many adult worms do you think you could harvest a week while maintaining a stable population in the tub?
Hi Rob, I live in the cold winter Northeast of the US. Just bought a small farm property. Will the worms survive in an unheated barn? Not planning on animals yet..but thanks for your videos. Very inspiring! All the best, daniel =)
Hey Bob just checking if you might know if it's safe to use a coir-peat brick for fresh bedding for my worm farm? It has slow release nitrophoska fertilizer in it, could this harm the worms?
Harvested several tubs from my Can O Worms. There were still clusters of worms in the lower layer. Backbreaking work that took me all day... got to come up with a better method but don't have the space for something like that. I also have something of a springtail infestation but the worms don't seem to care.
Have you tried using a light over the trays? Light drives the worms into the castings & you can remove the top 20mm/0.75" of castings. Used that method a bit in the past. Hope that helps some mate. Cheers
Tried it on a bright day, many worms only burrowed just beneath the surface (although a lot went to the bottom, 30% or so just refuse to go deep). So could only scrape off a tiny bit at a time. Some method where I could suspend the castings over a bucket and have them fall in (perhaps put some bedding in the bottom) but worms don't seem to like freefalling, prefer just dangling.
we use bathtubs altho in a slightly different way : ours are worm farm gardens. i.e. they grow food while they turn waste into castings and leachate. the approx ratio of original castings to waste is between 6 and 10:1. That means 1 bath can after 10 or 12 weeks produce enough castings with worms in them to make at least 6 baths. after another 10 or 12 weeks (about the life cycle of a very like silver beet) we have enough to make say 36 baths and at the end of a year, enough for over 200. we fill the bath with green waste (mainly use lawn clippings) and put a handful of castings everywhere we plant a very - planting them close = high productivity and less 'weeding'. what others call weeding we call 'collecting worm food' so any seeds that germinate we just pull them up and drop them in the bed. we have one operating in full sun now - because of the density of planting, the top of the bed is shaded and doesn't dry out much. we water it lightly most days and its been producing heaps of vegies for the house and for charity. you can see a vid of when we set it up in October : ruclips.net/video/jUmK5xs-s2c/видео.html
How many worms did you start that bed with,,,and how long until you harvested a useful amount of castings?? I just started a bed of my own, it's 3ft x 11ft and has aprox 4000 red Wigglers. 2000 more with be added next week for a total of 6000. I'm wondering what my casting yield should be.
Hi Rob, how do you keep your wrigglers alive in extreme heat conditions, I note you have most of them under your Queenslander (good spot) but how about those days of extreme conditions, any tips?
Ruby Salhus Hi there Ruby. I haven't had any real issues with them on the really hot heat waves (40°+ days) in the spot they're in now. I have been guilty of adding hot water bottles to an old farm that was in a really cool spot under the house a few years back. Knew I was on the right track when I found them hiding under it the next morning ;) Cheers Ruby & sorry for the very slow reply.
+Ruby Salhus I keep my worms outdoors under shade cloth in a little brick enclosure. Have been through a Canberra summer (high 30s) and winter (nights up to -6 or so) no problems. I estimate in one year gone from 1000 worms to at least 10,000.
Hello and thanks for getting back to me. I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the bedding I keep your worms in. Do you turn over your bedding weekly? I mean, do you mix your bedding, bringing the lower stuff to the top to keep it from packing down? I wonder if this disrupts the worms habitat or if it's needed to keep air throughout the bedding. Plus, how long after you see you worms mating will you be able to see actual eggs? What is their gestation time? Thanks for any info.
Hey Edward.. I don't turn the bedding at all, just leave it be until I think it's ready to harvest.. I have seen loads of red wrigglers mating but have only ever seen one shed a cocoon.. 3 weeks is the average time I've seen given for red wriggler worms to hatch from the cocoons if the conditions are right.. If they aren't the cocoons can stay viable for a long time until they are.. Hope that helps some mate.. Cheers..
Hey rob ive been watching a lot of ur videos. Very helpful! Just curious tho I started my worm bin about a month ago I can see that their breaking everything down, but how do u know when to harvest the bin. Thanks kyle
Hello, very informative video...How long did it take to get those two buckets of castings ? How many pounds of worm are approximately in that tub ? Thanks
I couldn't give you an exact time sorry mate as this clip is a few years old now & I can't find any notes on it. It will all depend on the amount of food added & the worms that are there to consume it as to how fast & how much are generated. Cheers.
Hi Daniel. Not too sue to tell you the truth. I think if you had them covered & in a well insulated container or a semi dug in farm like a bathtub they may just slow down in the cold as they do in nature. I remember seeing a clip on YT a while ago where a guy put an aquarium heater into a container of water that was placed in the centre of his worm bin to keep them going during the cooler months in the States. Could be a fire risk but thought I would mention it. Not much help there sorry. Cheers
Sorry I missed this Ben. I think it needs to be aged. Need to make sure any worming med's that the horse may of been given have broken down. If you know the horse it came from & are sure it won't be contaminated you could use it once its dried out. Hope that helps you out some.
Very informative! Just starting this out. I was curious about the worm reproduction. If I had a smaller bin with 20 worms, how long do you think it would take for the population to ,say, double? I am using cow manure and raw food waste for worm food.
Reproduction numbers & times vary between different types.. For the red wrigglers your looking at 2-3 cocoons every week.. 3 or so young will emerging from the cocoons after a 30+ days.. From there it will take another 2+ months to reach sexual maturity.. All this depends on the climate & food sources available to them but you would be looking at 90-150 days for the first batch of cocoons to start breeding.. The numbers will be a lot more than double the original breeding stock at that time as you can see ;) The numbers I've given are very "lose" but will give you some idea I hope.. Cheers :)
I know your comment was is from months ago but maybe you're still interested... Here's a link to a guy who did an experiment where he started with only four worms and then did a count after 5.5 months. www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/four-worm-reproduction-experiment-wrap-up/ Not a perfect experiment, but it gives you a rough idea of the rate at which they can reproduce.
stevethetree1991 Cheers for that Steve.. I really like Bentley's site but haven't explored it thoroughly yet.. Shall have a coffee & read once I'm done with comments.. Cheers mate & have a great one, Rob..
Fan Stanner My worms multiply quickly when I feed them very ripe bananas. - no peels. Plus, if you grind up the food, apples, grains, uncooked veggies, smashed up fruit, they will multiply quickly.
I just started my first attempt at worm farming in two 5-gallon buckets. I have been trying to figure out a way to move into a method that allows easier harvesting of the worm castings and this is the answer. Thanks for posting Rob!
I keep mine in 4gal buckets with loosely fitting lids under the house & away from the sun... This loose lid lets air in & black solider flies out.. I have kept them in there for a few months & still found "happy" worms when I use the castings.. There is always a bit of uneaten manure in there so they continue to have food to feed on..
Hope that helps some...
Gave a great one Sir..
Yep, helps a bunch. I used horse manure as well to start mine,, but I used the manure out of ignorance and lucked up. After hearing that you use it and have success , I will continue to use it as I have it readily available for free. I thanks man. I subscribed and ill keep you posted.
Is just the easiest way to do it I think..
Stay warm & have a good one David..
Have added garden lime once or twice to the old tiered farm but find it's not needed it in the larger ones. A very fine dusting over the top when it started to smell a bit is all that's needed. Not feeding until all the food was consumed helps as well. The odours might depend on the type & amount of food your adding too. When a lot of broccoli trimmings are added to our farm it can get a bit smelly but it dissipates in a day or 2.
Hope that helps some & let me know how you go.
Rob.
You don't have to stop ranting I like the information you present and could listen all day. Thank you!
Cheers for that Marcus.. :D
I try to keep the clips under 10 min but get a tad carried away at times..
Cheers & have a great one..
We get the little white critters you can see on the castings in the clip as well as fruit gnats hanging around but they really are not a big problem.. We have had black solider fly larvae in there at times but we pick them out & feed them to the chooks or fish if they are young enough.. Solider flies are another great way to compost.. There is normally a gecko or a small skink in there as well but I don't don't mind them grabbing a worm or 2 to munch on.. Hope that helps some & have a great one.
Have fun with it.. Should be adding another tub to mine soon as well..
Have a great one..
We have found it to be the most productive farm.. Very happy with it..
Have a good one :)
Can't go past them as a fertiliser or growing medium I think Larry..
Used to grow in ½ potting mix & ½ castings in containers when we were renting & they were some of the best plants we ever grew..
Have a good one :)
Hi Louise..
There is a link to the "how to build" clip at about 1:18 into the clip or you can find it by searching
"How to build a bathtub worm farm... "
The frame was made from reclaimed chairs we had saved but it would work just as well sitting on some besser/cinder blocks.. You were close on the lid, it was a sliding screen door that was cut down to size & covered with weed mat/cloth to keep out the light..
Hope that helps some & let me know if you want any more info.. Have a good one..
Thanks.. Used to over think the whole process... This way is so much easier..
Have a great one..
Large barrels cut in ½ (either way) or large bins (like the ones on wheels) work really well too Natalie.. I have used broccoli boxes as worm farms in the past as well with great results.. They are set up fairly much the same way as the bathtub bed with some rocks in the bottom for the drainage & some weed cloth on top to keep the manure/bedding falling through.. Hope that helps :)
Excellent vid, probably the most helpful out of the 30 or so I have watched.
Thanks mate!
I don't add any water to the worm farms under the house after the initial set up... The food adds the majority of the moister they need I have found..
The barrels that are outside do tend to dry out a little if we have a dry spell so I have given then a quick spray with the hose at times when they need it..
Hope that helps,
RB..
Probably be a bit cold in Michigan..
I add the castings to the beds & haven't really looked into Bokashi.. I do know a few people that do use that system & like it..
At least your starting coming into summer.. I want to start another but don't know how they will go now its starting to cool down here a bit.. Hope the breed fast & furiously for you Paula... Have a great one.. :)
I would think I would have to have well over a pound in there but wouldn't like to guess at the numbers.. Harvesting would depend on the amount of food & reproduction.. This is something I was planing to look into but never followed through with due to the time & resources needed to feed the number of fish we have would be very high.. I would like to have a crack at some more red claw so might look at harvesting some for them... Few other projects to sort out first though..
Glad they have helped.. I find them enjoyable to work with & they do a great job for us I think.
Have a good one :)
I used to have feeding stations be we wouldn't generate enough waste for 16+ beds & all the barrels.. I think that they get more than enough feeding on the different mulches & manures we spread on the beds a few times a year.. Our beds are also "Wicking beds" so are closed systems... Once they are in they are in for good :)
Captive workers so to speak :)
There is some shade cloth glued in place over the plug hole with silicone to stop a passing worn from falling through but they could also squeeze through if they really want to.. I think I show that in the "how to" clip in the description box above if your interested.
I have found that as long as there are loads of food available to them they generally don't venture down to the base of the farm that much..
Have a good one..
We constantly produce castings faster using the manure than people we know that just use the bedding & feed scraps to their worms.. I also use grass clippings in the ½ barrels we have sitting in the open in the yard & they power through that as well...
Hope that helps some..
Cheers.
I'm thinking of starting a worm farm and this was a fantastic presentation! Thank you for producing and sharing it!
Hi there Chris :)
Hope the clip gives you a few ideas for your own build :)
Cheers & have fun with the build..
Rob..
Thanks Rob for showing us your worm farm.. Got some good ideas from your video.
Hi Todd & no problem.. Am glad you fond the clip useful..
Cheers & all the best,
Rob.
Another project yet to do here. Unfortunately I don't have a bath tub but am on the look out for one. Great info in your video - very inspiring.
I think the garden will be a lot more productive with them all in there..
Have a good one.. :)
I prefer to use the castings themselves as it is easier to use to tell you the truth.. I have tried using casting teas & leachate but I didn't really see much of a response from the plants but I was probably doing it wrong.. Will be brewing some more teas with molasses again soon though as I have another 2 trays of castings to take from the 2 tiered worm farm.. Will have loads to experiment with methinks..
Hope your build goes well & it would be good to see a clip on it.. Have a good one..
I have seen a chap use a mower to mulch up manure & grass clippings at the community garden but it didn't click to do that here... Shall use the mower on the next bag & see how it goes...I do predict that the lawn will get very green where I do it :D
Thanks for pointing that out :)
Dear Mr Rob Bob, really enjoyed your videos, so much so that I decided to set up some of my own a few months ago in April at my allotment. The bed you are looking at is under my favorite cider apple tree which produced a marvelous harvest this year. There are plenty of Eisenia foetida, Eisenia veneta and Lubricus terrestris around my plot already as I do a lot of composting, however I also got a couple cartons of the anglers' worms (gold tips, European night crawler) which are supposed to be good for worm farming too (when I got them back I couldn't help feeling sorry for them in that little carton) anyway I set them free in the bed - cardboard laid at the base, 5 inches of matured horse manure, cardboard covering the top, then some straw and the another board sitting on t of the bed for more shade etc. I kept it moist and they romped around the bed for 5 months then last week they just disappeared, I have a suspicion someone raided the bed but they may just have left. Anyway MY QUESTION is if the resulting castes are ready yet (my profile pic), it looks a bit brown to me but doesn't smell of manure anymore, some of the straw bedding has got mixed into it which I guess I could remove....thanks for any advice :) E
As well as the 2 barrels & tiered farm John :/
Compost bin has turned into a black solider fly farm all by itself so that hardly gets used now :D
We don't eat a lot of rice so haven't sorry.. I can't see why they wouldn't like it, they love starchy breads.. Probably not a good idea to add too much the first time if your going to try just in case it sits there & rots if they don't like it..
Thanks for asking & I will give it a try next time we cook some up..
All the best, Rob.
They eat through it a lot faster we found.. I think they also breed faster as well with full bellies..
Cheers John..
Just bought some more manure so I can harvest the Tub again & set up another..
Have a great one :)
Rob.
I Have had that problem in the past as well... Have you put any fresh bedding into the top tray ?? I like to fill the top tray with broken up manure or coconut fibre & if you can add some fresh food on top that will also help move them up faster.. The manure will shrink down over time so there will be more than enough room for more food..
Let us know how you go which ever way you try..
Hi there.. I show how many went into the build clip I made.. Pop MvIWLu3o5OY into the YT search & the clip should come up.. At 7:32 in the clip I empty a ½gal container of worms in but have no idea of the weight sorry.. First harvest was at about 3-4 months from memory.. I only do ½ the bed at a time though so some worms are left to breed up again.. Hope that helps some.. Our casting production is increased by using horse manure as bedding I think.. TBC
Feeling the itch to get out there Paula :D
Hope you have a great season :)
Like the sieving tray. Real good idea. Man I do the same with the feeding one side first.
In the bath tub there would have to be at least a 1kg/2lb of worms I would think.. Is a bit hard to put a definite amount on it.. It doesn't take long for them to multiply when the weather warms up here.. Hope that helps, Rob :)
We have included a bit of ash that comes from our little out side brazier but not in large quantities as we don't burn it often.. I do have some bio char that I keep forgetting to add but will be putting it in a bed or 2 to see how it goes over winter..
Do you mean adding the alcohol to the compost tea ?? I have never head of that but would be interested in what you have to say on it...
Have a good one..
Glad I could help :)
Hope they feed & multiply well for you..
If you sort it out would love to see/hear how you went about it.. Cheers
Rob..
Good question.. Just went for a look as I had no idea. It appears that some don't recommend using nitrophoska as it can harm worms.
I googled "nitrophoska worms" & a few post came up saying that it can harm earth worms. If it were me I wouldn't use it. You could do an experiment over 3 or 4 weeks in an ice cream container with some worms & the coir in question to find out for yourself.
Sorry I have no conclusive answer on that but if you do the experiment I would love to know how it turns out.
hello, I'm just starting a worm farm now. I love your videos! I am planning on making a bathtub farm (or two).. thank you very much for such great information..
+thomas hintz
Hi Thomas & thanks 👍😊
Hope the farms do well for you mate.
Cheers.
I don't find I need anything covering these guys in the tub.. I do cover the worms in the barrels down the back though with about a foot of lawn clippings to keep the light down..
The bath has processed the manure quicker & given us some of the best castings of all the farms we have had..
Have a good one..
Hi Kyle.. Can take a while for their numbers increase in quantity enough to make a big dent on the food offered.. What sort of bedding do you have in the farm ? Just be careful not to over feed them as rotting food in the farm is not the best situation to have..
The liquid that gets collected from the farm gets watered down & used as fertiliser on the veggie beds.. You can also use it to boost your compost tea..
Hope that helps :)
As a tea it is more readily available for uptake to plants as I understand it Jim.. It also gets super charged when you add molasses to the tea brew.. The molasses feeds the beneficial bacteria that help make nutrients more available to the plants.. Really should try to find some research that explains it in full...
**adds another job to the list** :D
Have a good one Jim..
Wow!! That was easy Rob! Im working in mine this holiday!
Wow awesome! Seems like the easiest way to get to the castings! If I had a worm bin I wouldn't fret about some stragglers and eggs getting into my garden either. I'd welcome it! :-)
Thanks for the tip. Let me know how it works out. Great videos.
Another excellent update! Ain't worms great! :) ...something else for my 'to do' list...
That's a good system you have with the bathtub, Rob Bob. It's much easier than your barrels. The worms seem to be thriving even with the lack of oxygen holes in the bottom sides of the tub.
You might get better results if you bury the food and don't soak it so much. Keep it only as moist as a rung out sponge.
Hi again Alan :)
Have also started to bury the feed about an inch into the bedding & found they mow through it faster ;) Mentioned that in one of the latest worm clips..
Thanks for the heads up though, Cheers..
Rob :)
Outstanding info. Keep up the great work!
You should use both hands when you work in those castings Rob. As rich as that stuff is your left hand is going to start growing again and you will need to start buying 2 pair of gloves so that they fit properly.
Great info mate! Enjoyed what I've seen from you so far.
+Wayne Bloschichak
Thanks Wayne.
All the best mate.
The garden will love all those nutrients :D
We have some bio char that we could do the same with..
:)
Very cool! I'm just getting started and your videos have been very helpful! Thank you =)
really like your videos. lots of good info. I like the fact that you trial and error everything. what's a day in new queensland like?
+Thomas Scarbrough
Hey Thomas. Thanld you';re enjoying the clips.
At the moment we're in Summer so its fairly warm.
Over the past week or so we've been having temps between 27-33°C/80.6-91.4°F. Night time temps drop down to about 18-25°C/64.4-77°F.
Bit laid back here at the moment as Bianca is on holidays for a week or so which is great.
All the best mate & have a great one.
Rob.
I did have a small one set up when I was worried about separating out the worms but I don't really worry now Anthony. I use the migration feeding method now & wait until the bulk of the worms are feeding up one of the bed. The bedding/castings from the other end is removed with worms & cocoons still in there then added to the gardens. We heavily mulch the garden beds so there is always some food in them for the worms to feed on too. 👍
Cheers mate.
Thanks for the video, I have to spend more time and blend/process up garbage before tossing in the worm bin also.
Yea there's a lot of different vids out there, and some pretty average explanations...
I'm just starting out in a stacked broccoli box 'breeder/feeder' and soon will invest in a horizontal design like yours, maybe 2m surface area. I will use the worms to feed feeder fish (gudgeon) for redclaw & table fish (barra). So your video has been very helpful in witnessing the basics in worm behaviour etc... thanks again!
Thanks for that TBC...
backyardbean65 further up the comments here mentioned using a lawnmower & catcher to break up the manure...
Might help if you have a bit to do... Have a great one & hope you enjoyed your B'day :)
Thanks Rob Good info, just found a cheap used blender perfect for my red warriors.
looks great!! I wonder how much that bath tub weighs lol wish I had the room to make one, too hot here in Arizona. We do have a smaller tote worm bin inside the house which is so much fun! take care!!
Hello and thanks so much for all your info. I just started my first worm bed and have much to learn. I really enjoy all your videos and will put the information to good use. I'm starting with 1 pound of Euro Worms so it'll be interesting to see how things progress. I hope I can ask you a few questions as they come up? Here is Wisconsin we have about 5-6 months of below freezing weather so my worm bed will be kept indoors. Okay Rob Bob, thanks again!
Hi there Edward.. Hope the farm goes well for you there & feel free to ask..
I can get a bit behind on the comments & questions at times though just to warn you ;-)
Cheers & have a great one..
Hey i understand your raising the worms in the bathtub. I see how everything is set up. It looks very simple and you have been explaining everything so well. BUT my only question is.. How do the worms get in there?? haha I am only at minute 2:35 so you might end up answering my question in the video. I'm finish watching it now.
Rope ladders ;)
:D
haha
Thanks.. :)
I love the bathtub idea! Great video...thanks. One question, do you have any filter or screen covering the drain? I'm thinking the worms might also fall through... :)
Brilliant mate, thanks for a great lesson on worm farming.
I would believe it..
Am thinking I would rather feed the worms to the fish to "value add" to the flavor :D
Have a good one..
Your bathtub worm farm is so impressive I am worm envy! You mentioned feeding pumpkin purée to the right side of the tub which takes care of the greens. Do you not add Brown materials as well?
Sorry I missed this question.
The browns come in in the form of the manure & some shredded paper that gets added once in a while.
Cheers Alice.
how often do you feed and how often should you harvest castings, like that 5-6 gal. bucket you got how long would that have taken?
Hey Jon. We were feeding every few days with saved up scraps from the kitchen. They were also living in well-aged horse manure so had plenty to feed on in there as well. Harvest wish. I was clearing out ½ of the bath farm every 2-3 months but that was due to having a very healthy population of worms as well. A new bath farm may take a bit longer if you're starting out.
Hope taht healps some.
Most the time I don't :)
when it's damp I prefer too :)
Hi Rob, great video thank you. Do you have any videos showing how to make the metal frame for a metal beginner please? Also the cover, did you just use an old glass door? Thanks :D Louise
Hi Rob, I have a worm cafe, it's going well and worms seem happy, bottom tray is full, but they don't stay up in the 2nd tray, how can I get them started on filling up the 2nd tray, great videos and advice, keep it going cheers, worm tea has been amazing for our garden.
Great video! I'd love to be able to keep my worms out of doors all year but it's too cold here so until summer they are living in my bathroom. I bury their food under some of the bedding to keep flies away, do you have any bug problems feeding on the top of the bin?
Very useful info here Rob thanks.
Ha ha ha ha ha... **checks length of arms**
:O
Think you may be onto something there Chuck :D
Have a good one...
hey m8.. love your videos, very informative! I got two bath tubs and I plan to put it all into place the first week of March.. I have planned on using the worm juice by drilling holes at the end and putting them on a slant. I see that you use the casing's and compost more. What is your thoughts on the quality between the two? Is it more beneficial to go with one type of worm usage over the other? Keep posting! I love to watch and learn from your work! Much love from the states.
For those of you starting out, you can learn from one of my major mistakes. Yesterday we had a massive rain and plenty of water must have seeped through the air holes on the top. The worms were flooded! I lost maybe 50% of them. The mistake I made was that the drainage holes I drilled on the bottom were too small and too few. Drainage is crucial!
Fan Stanner Sorry to hear that :/ What sort of farm do you have them in ?
Oh just a question also, in an area say the size of your bathtub, how many worms do you think you would have?
And app. how many adult worms do you think you could harvest a week while maintaining a stable population in the tub?
Hi Rob,
I live in the cold winter Northeast of the US. Just bought a small farm property. Will the worms survive in an unheated barn? Not planning on animals yet..but thanks for your videos. Very inspiring! All the best, daniel =)
Hey Bob just checking if you might know if it's safe to use a coir-peat brick for fresh bedding for my worm farm? It has slow release nitrophoska fertilizer in it, could this harm the worms?
Harvested several tubs from my Can O Worms. There were still clusters of worms in the lower layer. Backbreaking work that took me all day... got to come up with a better method but don't have the space for something like that.
I also have something of a springtail infestation but the worms don't seem to care.
Have you tried using a light over the trays? Light drives the worms into the castings & you can remove the top 20mm/0.75" of castings. Used that method a bit in the past. Hope that helps some mate.
Cheers
Tried it on a bright day, many worms only burrowed just beneath the surface (although a lot went to the bottom, 30% or so just refuse to go deep). So could only scrape off a tiny bit at a time. Some method where I could suspend the castings over a bucket and have them fall in (perhaps put some bedding in the bottom) but worms don't seem to like freefalling, prefer just dangling.
Good video keep them coming
Jaws2 Thanks Jaws2
Have a great one.
we use bathtubs altho in a slightly different way : ours are worm farm gardens. i.e. they grow food while they turn waste into castings and leachate. the approx ratio of original castings to waste is between 6 and 10:1. That means 1 bath can after 10 or 12 weeks produce enough castings with worms in them to make at least 6 baths. after another 10 or 12 weeks (about the life cycle of a very like silver beet) we have enough to make say 36 baths and at the end of a year, enough for over 200. we fill the bath with green waste (mainly use lawn clippings) and put a handful of castings everywhere we plant a very - planting them close = high productivity and less 'weeding'. what others call weeding we call 'collecting worm food' so any seeds that germinate we just pull them up and drop them in the bed. we have one operating in full sun now - because of the density of planting, the top of the bed is shaded and doesn't dry out much. we water it lightly most days and its been producing heaps of vegies for the house and for charity. you can see a vid of when we set it up in October : ruclips.net/video/jUmK5xs-s2c/видео.html
Nice looking set ups John.👍
Rob....why is worm tea made from castings so strong compared to straight castings under the plant?
How many worms did you start that bed with,,,and how long until you harvested a useful amount of castings?? I just started a bed of my own, it's 3ft x 11ft and has aprox 4000 red Wigglers. 2000 more with be added next week for a total of 6000. I'm wondering what my casting yield should be.
Have you tried using rice as worm food ?
Hi Rob, how do you keep your wrigglers alive in extreme heat conditions, I note you have most of them under your Queenslander (good spot) but how about those days of extreme conditions, any tips?
Ruby Salhus Hi there Ruby.
I haven't had any real issues with them on the really hot heat waves (40°+ days) in the spot they're in now.
I have been guilty of adding hot water bottles to an old farm that was in a really cool spot under the house a few years back. Knew I was on the right track when I found them hiding under it the next morning ;)
Cheers Ruby & sorry for the very slow reply.
+Ruby Salhus I keep my worms outdoors under shade cloth in a little brick enclosure. Have been through a Canberra summer (high 30s) and winter (nights up to -6 or so) no problems. I estimate in one year gone from 1000 worms to at least 10,000.
Hello and thanks for getting back to me. I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the bedding I keep your worms in. Do you turn over your bedding weekly? I mean, do you mix your bedding, bringing the lower stuff to the top to keep it from packing down? I wonder if this disrupts the worms habitat or if it's needed to keep air throughout the bedding. Plus, how long after you see you worms mating will you be able to see actual eggs? What is their gestation time? Thanks for any info.
Hey Edward.. I don't turn the bedding at all, just leave it be until I think it's ready to harvest..
I have seen loads of red wrigglers mating but have only ever seen one shed a cocoon.. 3 weeks is the average time I've seen given for red wriggler worms to hatch from the cocoons if the conditions are right.. If they aren't the cocoons can stay viable for a long time until they are..
Hope that helps some mate..
Cheers..
Hey rob ive been watching a lot of ur videos. Very helpful! Just curious tho I started my worm bin about a month ago I can see that their breaking everything down, but how do u know when to harvest the bin. Thanks kyle
Thank you for the info. Is it possible to start a worm farm using cow manure or do the worms prefer horse poo? Thx
Sorry I missed this Wendy
You can use cow manure too. Just make sure that it's dry & well aged before adding it in.
Cheers.
Great video! Did you compost the horse manure first, or did you use fresh manure? I'm going to be starting a farm soon myself.
Hi Don & sorry I missed this. I either buy aged manure or age it myself for up to 8 weeks before using it.
Hope you farm is doing well mate.
Hello, very informative video...How long did it take to get those two buckets of castings ? How many pounds of worm are approximately in that tub ? Thanks
I couldn't give you an exact time sorry mate as this clip is a few years old now & I can't find any notes on it.
It will all depend on the amount of food added & the worms that are there to consume it as to how fast & how much are generated.
Cheers.
Hi Daniel. Not too sue to tell you the truth. I think if you had them covered & in a well insulated container or a semi dug in farm like a bathtub they may just slow down in the cold as they do in nature. I remember seeing a clip on YT a while ago where a guy put an aquarium heater into a container of water that was placed in the centre of his worm bin to keep them going during the cooler months in the States. Could be a fire risk but thought I would mention it.
Not much help there sorry. Cheers
About how much worms in that box?
Do you have to water the bed often?
hey Rob do you need to age the horse manure or is it good to go.
Sorry I missed this Ben.
I think it needs to be aged. Need to make sure any worming med's that the horse may of been given have broken down. If you know the horse it came from & are sure it won't be contaminated you could use it once its dried out.
Hope that helps you out some.
Very informative! Just starting this out. I was curious about the worm reproduction. If I had a smaller bin with 20 worms, how long do you think it would take for the population to ,say, double? I am using cow manure and raw food waste for worm food.
Reproduction numbers & times vary between different types..
For the red wrigglers your looking at 2-3 cocoons every week.. 3 or so young will emerging from the cocoons after a 30+ days.. From there it will take another 2+ months to reach sexual maturity.. All this depends on the climate & food sources available to them but you would be looking at 90-150 days for the first batch of cocoons to start breeding.. The numbers will be a lot more than double the original breeding stock at that time as you can see ;)
The numbers I've given are very "lose" but will give you some idea I hope..
Cheers :)
I know your comment was is from months ago but maybe you're still interested...
Here's a link to a guy who did an experiment where he started with only four worms and then did a count after 5.5 months. www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/four-worm-reproduction-experiment-wrap-up/
Not a perfect experiment, but it gives you a rough idea of the rate at which they can reproduce.
stevethetree1991 Cheers for that Steve.. I really like Bentley's site but haven't explored it thoroughly yet.. Shall have a coffee & read once I'm done with comments..
Cheers mate & have a great one,
Rob..
Rob Bob No problem, it's a great site!
You have a great one too.
Steve
Fan Stanner My worms multiply quickly when I feed them very ripe bananas. - no peels. Plus, if you grind up the food, apples, grains, uncooked veggies, smashed up fruit, they will multiply quickly.