A worm farm is a great small project especially for people who love gardening. A small container converted into a farm can fit a small apartment or house which makes it even perfect. The casting or vermicast produced from worm farming or vermicomposting is a great fertilizer. When used in flower beds, you can expect to have flowers blooming earlier this year. If used in vegetable patches, expect tastier and better looking vegetables at harvest season.
Worm farming is a great small project but how would it work as a commercial endeavor? Well according to the business directory, worm farming is a good viable business if you know what you’re doing that is. Commercial worm farming involves breeding, selling and shipping worms and casting to clients. There’s quite a load of work even if you’re working with small little wrigglers. Sales of worms alone can reach at least $2,000 a month if you market your produce well enough and work your butt off in sales and marketing.
The concept of commercial production of worms and castings is basically the same as a home production one. You pile up red worms on a bedding of cardboard, leaves, and soil and place food waste on top and let the worms do the rest. In a couple of months the worms would have produced quite a large amount of castings and liquid fertilizer. Liquid fertilizer is the liquid produce from the worm farm. You can actually call it worm pee if you like. This liquid is rich and is very suitable as a fertilizer as well.
The number of worms or the size of the farm really depends on you. Just make sure you have a large enough container if you like to have large farm. The worms will usually control their own population so you don’t have to worry that much of having not enough worms. However, aside from worms, your farm would probably include some other creatures since it is practically the center of decomposition. More often than not, you will find molds, fungi, pot worms and even mites in there. Now, these creatures are not necessarily bad for they also help enrich the process of converting food wastes into rich fertilizers.
At times, there would be maggots and flies as well. Although, these also do not affect the process that much, but can be quite disgusting and you would like to remove them from the farm. There are some quick and easy ways to control maggots and flies and the first one would be by not placing meat as food for the worms. Meat, poultry, and dairy products will attract insects and create unpleasant odors from the farm. But if you stopped placing meat and yet the farm still smells bad, you can reduce the amount of food you give the worms. Probably, you have too much food residue now which is the reason it smells bad.
Maintaining a farm is not that difficult either. You need to keep the farm damp but not wet since water can easily drown your worms. A lot of people make that mistake. They water their farms too much that the worms get drowned.
If you notice the worms in your worm farm is not breeding, then it would be best to cover up the farm or place it in a much cooler and shadier place. Worms love damp and dark places. They work better that way and will help your farm produce more worms and more castings for fertilizers.
People get into worm farming for different reasons. Some do this to do their share in eliminating waste also known as worm composting while others feel that it is much cheaper to produce your own fish bait rather than buying it at the store.
Worms can eliminate waste by simply eating it. Once they eat, they produce what is known as vermicast which happens to be the safest fertilizer in the world. You can then scrape it off the bin and then put it in the soil.
If you think this is smelly like the poop you produce or what dogs and cats make, think again because it doesn’t. This is because it is ph neutral meaning it is halfway between acidic and alkalinic which is similar to water. When you smell it, you won’t even know it is the waste of the worm because it looks like soil.
The great thing about worm composting is that you can do this indoors or outdoors. You just need a container and in a few months time, you will be able to produce rich compost.
Now the best worms to use for composting are the red worms. Studies have shown that it reproduces easily and they have a very strong appetite. Don’t use dew worms for worm composting because these are less likely to produce the same results.
You can feed the red worms just about anything if the waste you plan to give them is plant based except for citrus and highly acidic vegetables, pineapple and grass clippings because these will kill the worms.
Other dietary options include coffee grounds or tea bags, crushed egg shells, fruit peelings, hair clippings, stale biscuits and cakes, saw dust, plate scrapings, soaked cardboard, vacuum cleaner dust and vegetable scraps.
Now the second reason why a lot of people get into worm farming is to make fish bait. In fact, the best one to use is the European Night Crawlers because you can use these under any water condition including salt water.
Just like the red worm, you need four things to be able to make these grow and multiply. This is namely bedding, food, moisture and proper pH.
You can build the bedding yourself or make your own as there are instructions how to do this in books and online. If you want to avoid the hassle, then buy your own but be aware that there are only a few of these around since this worm is only new in the US.
One of the most fascinating things about worms is that they spend most of their lives eating. They don’t sleep and the only time they ever take a break is when they have to reproduce. Worms never overpopulate unlike us humans because they have a way of maintaining the balance between the food and the space that is provided to them.
Worm farms are great and it doesn’t matter why you want to raise them. Some people who have successfully bred them have even turned it into a business. Regardless of your reason, you have to give some time and effort taking care of these creatures. We need the worms and they need us so you could say it is a win-win situation for both parties.
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