Mordante69
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A Hatchling Earthworm
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Re:Worms - 2008/05/12 13:59
wormwrangler wrote:
Hey Mord
The worms we got from walmart were in bait cups. They were the samll ones, and I believe there was 50 in each cup. Those cost about 2 bucks per bait cup. The tote was about 5 bucks, also bought at wal~nuts. We used shredded newspaper for bedding, and fed them food scraps for the first few months.
It did take a few months for them to populate the tote, but by years end we had 2 4x8x2 bins started from those 2 bait cups.
So you could start a worm ranch by rounding up a herd like your doin, or buy a few bait cups, or go all out and buy them by the pound. Just depends on how fast you want to have a large bin full, or how much your willing to spend 
2 bucks for 50 doesn't sound too bad if I am looking for a quick injection of POWs...It'd make Major Hofstetter happy! I'd like to have the full facility kicking out enough poop before the growing season ends. At least one 10 gallon tote's worth. Hopefully they will.
CharlieLittle wrote:
Hey Mord,
Did you ever get these questions answered? I'm certainly no scientist but have some experience with punk oriented bacteria being a waste water operator if that's what you mean. I think the use of pond water is to provide nitrifying bacteria to the mixture that converts nutrients into plant-usable forms and to keep away from using chlorinated water.
I've currently got an experimental tomato plant growing in a hydroponic bubbler bucket. They say you can't grow organically in hydroponics, well some do but in my wastewater job I've witnessed huge tomato plants growing right on bare rusty metal while being splashed with nothing but straight concentrated poop water, thus my experiment...I added a cup of worm castings and compost to a five gallon bubbler bucket and five ounces of a liquid vitamin supplement called VIBE that's meant for people. At first, the plant looked like it would just turn yellow and die but all of a sudden like it exploded with lush growth and now has to be supported to keep from falling over. The theory I had was that nitrifying bacteria in the worm poop and compost would change the vitamins and other ingredients in the VIBE Nutraceutical to plant-usable forms just like in the sewer plant. Guess it worked!
The hydroponic bubbler bucket is a simple airlift PVC pipe fastened to the inside and powered by air from a compressor and keeps the organic solution constantly stirred and aerated. Will try and post a picture...Hope that was correct and maybe partially answered you question correctly...
From http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlielittle/
Ah very interesting Charlie. VERY.
I've read when you brew the tea with a bubbler, at least when it comes to compost, that there is a greater increase in harmful bacterias along with the good. For instance if Ecoli was present (a definite punk) it could expand along with any beneficials in the bucket and there'd be a chance it was passed on to the plant when you sprayed. Now from what I've read there's not much chance of that with Worm tea because the castings pretty much neutralize anything that has passed through the wormy's body. But I was wondering with pond water where you are not starting with a clean slate like you would with tap that has been sitting for a few days, or distilled, that you might also grow more of the dangerous micro-organisms that can be found in most ponds.
I know they stopped using Night Soil because of the greater increase of tape worms/other nasties and disease being past onto the eater of the veggies grown in it.
The whole pond water question was more out of interest than concern though. I understand even with worm castings you are gonna get some microbial bastards that aren't gonna be nice, mostly to the plant...but they are out numbered by the good guys. I was just wondering if things like Amoeba and the like could actually flourish under the aerating tea brewing conditions?
I actually made my first batch of tea last week and I am semi happy with the results. I need to do a few more.
Thanks for the info. I'll be interested to hear more about the results.
Mord.
Post edited by: Mordante69, at: 2008/05/12 14:04
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