How to Prepare leaf litter and use for composting worms. Baking or Freezing
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 4 фев 2025
- Let's prepare leaves for the worms. Composting worms love it and devour it. The darkest castings I've gotten were when I feed leaves.
For living Starter colonies of Lousiana swamp worms, pure red wigglers, and African Nightcrawlers visit
www.thegardena... Priority shipping
Preparing leaf litter is at your own risk. I bake mine at 200° for about 35 to 40 minutes. In an electric oven. You can also freeze them for more than 72 hours. 
For Worm Starter Colonies visit TheGardenAndWormLady.com
My worms are not reproducing but still thriving. I am sure the bins are overpopulated, but during the winter, that is ok. That little sifter is so cute!!
That was a great tip, re. sterilizing the leaves first. I had not thought of the risk of snail contamination. Am about to start my worm bin. I think I'm going to boil my leaves for a few minutes instead of baking them before putting them in.
You can do that too. I have boiled mine for a few minutes. I had snails. It was uncontrollable that one time.😆
Your worms are looking very healthy 🇳🇿🪱
Hi again! I forgot to ask… that sprayer machine thingy.. it made noise and sounds like a paper shredder blower (how cool would that be?) but you said it is a Mosquito bit/dunk blower?
The water I make with mosquito dunks in it. I sift out and pour into my battery powered sprayer. The sprayer is chargeable, and I love it.
What is the lowest temp for raising worms
I guess it all depends on the type of Worm. I have seen red wiggler and European nightcrawlers survive temperatures as low as 30°F.
What is the coldest temps that you would ship red wiggler's in?
Depends on the type of Worm
I’m thinking about starting a ENC colony. Do you have those too?
Sorry, no not at the moment
I’d recommend waiting for Vee to get some ENCs to buy from her. I bought a pound from her a few weeks ago and they were monsters in size.
Do the red wiggler starter colonies include adult worms or just cocoons and newly hatched young worms ?
All sizes, I dig at the bottom and I grab it by the fistful. I don’t even look through it. I just know they’re there.
My red wigglers love leaves at this time of year and they are everywhere. I use a garden shredder and put the dry leaves through it. They come out nicely chopped up and I soak them before feeding them to the worms.
How are you washing the leaves? And why, if you're going to bake them?
I wash them in the sink, I wash because they could be dirty, i just like everything clean 😄
I've been wondering about boiling rather than baking. I could do a lot more at once. Thoughts?
You can if you use them for a composting Worms. If you use them for hermit crab enclosures not good because it removes the tannins
@TheGardenAndWormLady thank you! I'll have to get out my canning pots!
Ever tried sterilizing leaves in the microwave
Why do you use mosquito dunk water?
It controls flying insects in the wormery. It doesn’t hurt the worms.
I know nothing about breeding worms and just got into composting but why do you call it mosquito dunk water?
Because I prepare water that has mosquito dunks in it to use in all my bins. It doesn’t hurt the worms and it controls the flying insects.
@@TheGardenAndWormLady Ah I see. After hearing your solution to controlling flying insects I thought about making a spray out of Citronella Plant my wife has planted around the yard. I’ll let you know how it works. Also I appreciate your videos. I just started my very first worm bin out of the left over Night-Crawlers I had from a fishing trip & a second bin out of a bunch of earthworms I found in my Compost tumbler.
Where is your video that shows finding and collecting your eggs?
ruclips.net/video/1x0fvULEmo4/видео.htmlsi=OLH8MyJ28x_8mG7I
Hmmm... when you mentioned those tiny snails, I was reminded that I had them too - but I can't recall seeing them recently. I wonder what happened to them.... hmmmmm
Oh my gosh, there were thousands I ended up dumping the entire bin. They were the cutest things ever with their little shells on their backs.🤣
The systems that had the greatest number of snails were the "original" red wiggler bins. I wonder if they snails couldn't cope with the drying out of the material in the bins prior to them being covered with plastic in a recent check-in. I'm just glad to se them gone 👍🏻
. I remember them
15:04 and as somebody who has a gas stove, I would definitely advise not to use them in your gas stove or if you do maybe put a baking sheet over and under them and get a rack if you can!!!! I’ve caught parchment paper on fire before by accident of course… he he
Excellent advice thank you so much. My stove is electric.
You can also freeze them for 72 hours or more instead of baking