European Nightcrawler Cocoons

As mentioned at the beginning of the month, I now have a couple of small bins containing European Nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis).

The bins I used to house the worms are the same systems I set up for my first two worm composting videos. Even though both bins were very well-aged (in fact, I could no longer find any evidence of food waste in either), the Euros seemed somewhat unsettled when I first added them - almost certainly due to shipping stress (which is inevitable) and perhaps also the fact that they were raised primarily on a manure diet.

In an effort to discourage too much roaming I added a decent layer of shredded egg carton cardboard (my absolute favourite for vermicomposting) in each. This material absorbs moisture very readily, and will create a much drier atmosphere above the main composting mass - gradually over time this cardboard will completely moisten and be broken down (worms love it), but in the meantime the worms seem more than happy to remain in the wet materials down below.

After doing my 4-worm experiment inspection this morning I decided to check out my Euro systems to see how they were doing. I was very happy with what I saw. Not only are the worms no longer roaming around the sides and lid, but much of the waste materials and wet bedding has been processed (I saw lots of worm castings). When I first opened the bin I even caught two worms mating. I tried to get a picture but it didn’t turn out as nicely as I had hoped - I will aim to get some good mating pictures at some point.

Seeing the mating inspired me to dig around for cocoons. As you can certainly tell from the photos above, I did indeed find them - quite a few in fact! Very exciting stuff! I’ve seen (and written about) Red Worm cocoons before, but this is my first experience with E. hortensis reproduction. I’m actually quite surprised to see just how quickly they are producing cocoons. I’ve read quite a bit about the “slow” reproductive cycle of Euros, so I wasn’t expecting to find any evidence of mating for quite some time.

Of course, we’ll still need to wait and see how long it takes for juveniles to hatch (and then mature), but this is good progress in my books nevertheless!

Anyone who has found Eisenia fetida (Red Worm) cocoons should be able to tell from the first photo that these are definitely larger - not too surprising given the larger size of this species (E. hortensis, that is). It certainly made things easier when I tried to find them in the bin.

Rest assured, I’m going to keep close tabs on both my Euro bins from now on and will report back as soon as I find any baby worms!

Technorati Tags: worm reproduction, earthworm reproduction, worm cocoons, eisenia hortensis, european nightcrawlers, red worms, worm composting, vermicomposting, vermiculture, worm bins

Written by Bentley on December 27th, 2007 with 4 comments.
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Four Worm Experiment Update

The ‘Four Worm Reproduction Experiment‘ was officially started back on December 12th so I figured it was time for an update. As such, today I decided to dig around in the new system to see how things have been progressing.

If you have been following along you may recall that I decided to use my new wooden stacking worm bin for the experiment. It is a pretty cool system but as I discovered today it DOES require a little more attention than one of my typical rubber tub bins. One of the advantages of the system is that it is incredibly well aerated - wood itself tends to ‘breathe’ more than plastic, but the trays are also very shallow and have mesh bottoms. This advantage can be a double-edged sword however since it becomes much more important to monitor moisture levels on a regular basis.

When I first started it up I made sure to spray the bedding with water on a regular basis, but given our recent holiday activities away from home earlier this week (visiting with relatives for a few days) it has been more difficult to keep on top of it. I was at least happy to see a fairly moist core zone where I had added vegetable scraps last week, but much of the tray (including the newspaper liner at the bottom) was bone dry. Thankfully I was still able to find all four worms and was happy to see that they actually look quite healthy (bigger than when I added them).

I was hoping to find some cocoons, but given the conditions in the bin I can’t say I was too surprised that I was not able to locate any yet. I thoroughly sprayed down the contents of the tray (after adding some absorbent shredded cardboard) and will get back to a more regular watering schedule. Hopefully we’ll see some new additions (babies) to the system before too long!

Stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: worm reproduction, earthworm reproduction, reproduction, worm composting, vermicomposting, red worms, red wigglers, worm bin, worm composter, worm eggs, worm cocoons, experiments, fun stuff

Written by Bentley on December 27th, 2007 with 3 comments.
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