(Earth) worm factory

I just bought an Earthworm factory... (Photo below)... apparently, it produces a never ending supply of worms and compost and from the tap at the bottom, you can pour an abundance of worm tea which you dilute with water (1:10) and spray your plants with it.... it has 4 levels and each level can contain up to 12,000 worms... anybody else tried this???... it is quite expensive though, but to a fisherman/gardener/fish hobbyist... I think it could be an asset?

 

What did you pay for it? There is a small one at my local nursery for R699 and i find that a bit steep

 

In the region of about R950 Henk... Delivered from Cape town to my front door with (about) 500 worms included... Seems to be very slow working though, or maybe only because it is wintertime.

 

mmmmmmmm ok - can you please PM me the company details? i really want to set one up for all my kitchen waste

 

Now thats a great idea - how would that work ?

 

thats what they are actually for - kitchen waste disposal

 

They are great for creating a good fertilizer for your gardens, and getting rid of kitchen waste! I've seen the results of people using this in their watering systems whereby the urine from the earthwork is caught up into a catchment tank which forms part of the irrigation system. When the irrigation is put on, it sucks the urine out and spreads it over your garden. Most natural and effective fertilizer I've seen.

 

If you are happy with the product's quality can you pm me the deatils as well?

 

Google

http://www.ehow.com/how_4795133_worm-farm.html
http://www.opentutorial.com/index.php?title=Make_a_worm_farm
http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/worm/farm.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System
http://www.vermicompost.net/worm-composting/wormery-composter/rubbermaid-worm-bin-plans.aspx

http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publications/Organics/44295054.pdf (detailed pdf)
http://www.cityofseattle.net/util/s...pu/@csb/documents/webcontent/spu01_001991.pdf

 

lots of info on a wormary on the net - i might just make one out of meat packing boxes - seems like a cheaper option

 

Were are you going to get the earthworms from

 

from one of the earth worm guys

 

Excellant answer was expecting something like that 5 points to you lol

http://www.rainharvest.co.za/2010/06/08/reduce-organic-waste-start-an-earthworm-farm/

plastic's for africa bins

 

Hmmmmm... Henk... these worms are great escape artists and have to be in tight fitting stacks.... The factories are desighned as such... so, must just be kept in mind when you design your own. (but, it does work for all my kitchen waste and it keeps my fish equipped with chopped worms though.

 

Some info:
Foods the worms will eat include :

• Kitchen greens, vegetable scrapings from plates.
• Potato and other veg peels.
• All Fruit: Feeding the worms a lot of fruit will increase the acidity of the farm due to the high sugar content. You can add agricultural lime into the farm to balance the Ph. Be careful that the fruit has no insecticides on it as this can kill a farm outright.
• Egg shells: These should be ground up before adding them to the farm. Egg shells are great for balancing an acidic farm.
• Paper products and cardboard: These should be shredded and soaked in water first.
• Hair and nail clippings.
• Cotton Rags.
• Leaves: Try not to put in too many hard wooden bits into your farm. Do not add leaves that have been sprayed with pesticides.
• Cereals.
• Grain and grain products: These should be ground up. Be careful not to add too much as grain may attract rodents.
• Tea Bags and Coffee grounds.
• Moldy bread.
• Horse and cow manure, this is the worms natural diet and they thrive on it.

Foods not to feed the worms

• Meat and dairy products: Your worms will happily eat the meat but it will attract pests like flies and maggots. Meat can also rot in your farm and cause bad smells, germs and an unhealthy farm.
• Worms do not like Citrus Fruits, onions and garlic.
• Pineapple: Contains an enzyme that will kill your worms.
• Fats or Oils.
• Salted or Pickled foods.
• Toxic house plants.
• Fresh cut grass and weed clippings as these will heat up and kill the worms.
• Fresh raw sawdust as it will heat up and kill the bin.
• Some hard wood sawdust is also toxic namely oak and cedar.
• Spoiled swelled canned goods.

 

Might I suggest making your own for those who won't spend R600-R1000 for the commercially made units.
Before buying a worm farm, I did some research and found that you don't have to buy those expensive units. You can use a Bucket or any other plastic storage container.
Drill 5mm holes on the Lid for air and 1 or 2mm holes at the bottom for drainage. Add shredded paper to the bottom & fill the rest of it with soil. Then add your worms. Place a container under it to collect the worm-wee and that's it. Mine works well.
Has anyone tried feeding red wigglers to their fish?

 

I have done the exact same thing on a smaller scale and it works like a charm here is my thread I made sometime ago, and yes I feed my Oscar red wigglers as a treat: http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?4271-Breeding-Red-Worms-for-your-fish

 

Cool thanks... I wasn't sure if I could feed them to the mudskipper on not. I'm using a bucket for my worm farm at the moment. It works great.