I bought sum nightcrawlers for fishing & the next day there were hundreds of teeny white wrigglers in the container (so tiny i thought they were roots at first) So i put them under a huge rock in my garden that I saw other worms in. Problem is the dirt there is so compacted im afraid i will cut the worms digging with a hand shovel. I put a few in my compost pile, i cant see that theyve multiplied lol, is there an easier way?
make a worm farm. Heres what you need
25-30 gallon tote with lid, not too deep
some railway sized gravel
1-2 shovels of potting soil (for the base)
a screw in nozzle with sealant
a short stretch of tubing to fit your nozzle. like 2 feet or so
some kitchen vegetable scraps, grass clippings, or spent schwag from your last grow.
coffee grounds
a box of red wigglers
put the nozzle through the side of the tote like 1/4 inch from the bottom, and plug on the hose.
toss in some gravel to make a drainage bed like 1-2 inches deep
throw in 2 inches of potting mix
toss in some coffee grounds.
throw in your kitchen vegetable scraps schwag and whatnot.
toss in the wigglers (nightcrawlers are too big for potted plants, and dont reproduce as fast)
tuck the hose under the tote lid to keep it upright, and keep the lid from snapping down.
from here on out, just keep adding kitchen scraps, and keep it moist (you prolly wont have to add water if you use lotsa vegetables or have spent schwag from your hash making)
when you see more than 1 inch of fluid in the tube, tap it out, and mix it with lotsa plain water. your plants will love it.
any time you need a few worms for a potted plant, catch a few and drop em in your plant
when the volume of digested material becomes sufficent, you can shovel it out, and set it in the sun in a thin layer to dry. (catch the worms and send them back home)
when it's dry, you just made homemade worm castings, the most expensive and luxurious fertilizer on the planet! mix it into your soils, sprinkle it on top of established plant's root zone, or dissolve it in water to use like liquid fertilizer.
worms will eat any plant material, and especially love coffee grounds, carrot peels and wilted lettuce. they reproduce fast, and when run properly, your worm farm should be odorless.
you can use the worm farm to make miracle grow potting mix into the best soil you ever used, turn horse goat or sheep turds (herbivores only please) or bird guano into premium soil.
warning, do not EVER put meat, dairy or fish scraps in your worm farm!
regular compost heaps are to hot for worms, they are like 180 degrees Fahrenheit inside and too airy and dry outside.
