Here are some interesting questions from Todd:

I live in north GA. and i am just starting out i have been sold on
the “red worms” since seeking this endevor however, i am now
considering the European night crawlers. what is your reccomendation?
i want to raise these worms for resale to bait stores and garden
centers for the castings…how many are in a pound and waht is the
yield and reprpduction time for the night crawlers….i was told the
red worms (1lb) appor 1,000 worms can produce quickly and approx. 329
tons of castings in a yr…which is the best way to start a bed? in a
ground pit or 10gal buckets?…..thanks for your advice

Hey Todd,
I am glad to hear that you have been ‘sold’ on the potential of Red Worms. Hopefully you haven’t been lured into investing large sums of money in a ‘turn-key’ worm business however.

When I am asked to provide advice regarding the start-up for your own worm business, I always recommend 1) Taking your time (don’t drop everything to pursue it), 2) Start small, 3) Research, research, research!

My advice is that UNLESS you do a LOT of research (potential markets, worm science, general vermicomposting etc), have a rock-solid business plan, and a large quantity of money you can afford to lose (ie it won’t result in people showing up at your door to break your knee caps), you should start this type of business on a part-time basis. It is always a good idea to see if you’ll enjoy it on a serious hobby level, before going hog-wild building your worm farming empire. I’m amazed how many people – who have never even set up worm bin before – think they’d like to get into the worm farming business – there’s nothing wrong with that of course, but at least try it out to see what you think.

A part-time worm farming business can be a LOT of fun! It’s like a hobby you get paid for. You don’t need to stress about bringing in enough to pay all your bills (or pay off the loan sharks – haha), and you can gradually teach yourself about the industry and the potential markets you are thinking about tackling. It ALSO provides you with the time needed to build up your own massive population of worms, rather than having to buy hundreds or even thousands of pounds of worms from someone else.

Ok – back to your questions. If you are looking for a worm that is very easy to care for and that breeds like crazy, I’d definitely recommend Red Worms (Eisenia fetida). European Nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis) are great worms as well (and it’s a good idea to start breeding them too), but you almost certainly won’t be able to build your population as quickly as you could with Reds. Just to provide you with some perspective, here is some data (based on averages) provided by two renowned vermicomposting researchers:

From Edwards (1988):

Eisenia fetida
# of viable hatchlings per cocoon – 3.3
Time to Maturity – 85-149 days

Eisenia hortensis
# of viable hatchlings per cocoon – 1.1
Time to Maturity – 97-214 days

From Dominguez (2004):

Eisenia fetida
# of viable hatchlings per cocoon – 2.5-3.8
Time to Maturity – 28-30 days
Life cycle – 45-51 days
Hatching viability – 73-80%

Eisenia hortensis
# of viable hatchlings per cocoon – 1.1
Time to Maturity – 65 days
Life cycle – 100-150 days
Hatching viability – 20%

The differences between the two studies, while certainly interesting, are not as important (for the purpose of my illustration here) as the consistent difference between the two species.

As for the number of worms in a pound – that totally depends on the size of the worms, of course. Industry averages tend to be in the range of 1000 Reds per pound and 300 Euros per pound. Just for fun I recently started testing this out myself. I seem to have smaller and larger Red Worm varieties (from two difference sources), so I tested both of these out, along with Euros. I found that 500 of the smaller Reds and 200 of the larger Reds made up 1/4 lb (suggesting that 2000 of the smaller worms and 800 of the larger worms would weigh 1 lb). I also found that 400 of my Euros made 1 lb (my current Euros ARE somewhat smaller than the ones I’ve had previously so this makes sense). I definitely need to do more counts to come up with a reliable average, but I found the results quite interesting!

As for 1 lb of worms being capable of producing 329 tons of castings per year, that definitely sounds like a pretty major stretch to me. Obviously, if you treat them right you can end up with a LOT more than 1 lb by the time that year has passed, but 329 tons is a LOT of castings!
😯

The best way to get started, in my humble opinion, is to simply put together a few worm bins. This will introduce you to the process of vermicomposting, and provide you with some idea of what you might be getting yourself into!

Anyway – hope this helps!
8)

REFERENCES
Dominguez, J. 2004. State-of-the-art and and new perspectives on vermicomposting research. In: “Earthworm Ecology”. Edwards, C.A. (ed). CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 401-424.

Edwards, C.A. 1988. Breakdown of animal, vegetable and industrial organic wastes by earthworms. In: “Earthworms in waste and environmental management”. Edwards, C.A. & Neuhauser, E.F. (eds). SPB Academic Publishing Co, The Hague, pp. 21-31.

Here are a couple questions from Marc:

I just started a worm bin per your video instructions. So far so good. Well, it’s only been a few days. But I do have a question. Once I’ve done the original bedding, moistened everything, added food scraps, let it stew for a week, and added the worms… is there any reason to add more bedding materials? Do I just keep adding kitchen waste and no more bedding?

Here’s another question, how small of a bin have you attempted? I have friends interested but space is an issue. Is three gallons too small?

Thanks, I really like the site.

Thanks Marc!
These are good questions.
Firstly, let’s talk about bedding. These materials – typically a carbon-rich and absorbent – are really important in a typical ‘worm bin’ vermicomposting system since they absorb excess moisture, help to balance the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, increase air flow, and help to create a safe habitat matrix for the worms.

In my humble option, it’s not a bad idea to add a small handful of new bedding every time you add wet food wastes to your bin, and on a fairly regular basis in general. If you stop adding them altogether you will notice that conditions start to get really soggy in the bin, and/or there will be lots of liquid down in the reservoir (if you’ve made the ‘deluxe’ bin). Your system may also start to stink due the increased moisture content and reduced air flow.

As for creating a small worm bin – I say go for it! The bins I made in my YouTube videos (deluxe and basic) are actually very small systems – likely in the 3 gallon range. You definitely need to be careful with the amount of food you add to small systems however, since you can end up overfeeding them quite easily. Other than that, the same basic principles (of vermicomposting) apply.

Hope this helps!
8)

I’ve decided to include two reader questions here since they are somewhat related.

Our first question comes from Hibou:

Hello,
I’ve read that a bit of lime is very good for garden soil. Is it good for my vermicompost bin? If so, which type? Wikipedia tells me that “agricultural lime is” mainly calcium carbonate (CaCO3). However, the lime I’ve got my hands on is “slaked lime,” i.e. calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2), the by-product of acetylene gas. Thus it’s mixed with a bit of calcium carbide (CaC2) as well. What do you think? Will my worms appreciate it?
Thank you,
Hibou

Hi Hibou – I’m really glad you wrote in with this question since this is an important topic to talk about. Firstly, yes you can certainly add lime to your worm bin in moderate amounts to help keep the pH balanced somewhat and provide a source of calcium for the worms. Is it vitally important to do so? Definitely not – composting worms actually tend to prefer a somewhat more acidic environment (similar to the one they are used to in their ‘natural’ habitats such as compost heaps etc), so you really don’t need to get hung up on the pH issue. That being said, if you ARE giving your worms a lot of acidic foods such as tomatoes or juicer waste (citrus etc), you will more than likely need to provide at least a little lime supplementation. One thing I definitely DON’T recommend you do is wait until your bin goes ‘sour’, then try to rectify the situation by dumping lots of lime in – you’ll more than likely just end up making matters worse for yourself. Rapid shifts in pH can wreak havoc on your bin ecosystem, and ultimately your worms.

Ok – now on to the different types of lime. This is REALLY important since there are a variety of different materials called “lime”. You want your lime to be CaCO3 – 95% or higher. One exception is ‘dolomitic lime’ which basically has a 50:50 ratio of CaCO3 and MgCO3 – it is ok as well. You definitely DO NOT want ‘hyrdrated lime’, ‘builders lime’, or ‘slaked lime’ (all similar) since these can be caustic and thus not worm-friendly.

Hopefully you have not added your slaked lime to your bin yet! Your worms will definitely not appreciate it.

Next, we have a question from Nick:

Are seashells (Calcium carbonate and chetin) OK to use in my
bedding, instead of eggshells or limestone? I live close to a beach full of seashells, and would be criminal not to take advantage of the millions of seashells washed ashore every day. Hopefully, there will be no adverse effects on my red Wigglers. I am a beginer in vermicomposting and would feel really bad, if I inadvertently harmed the breaders.

Hi Nick,
I am a big fan of slow-release sources of CaCO3, so I would give a big thumbs-up for seashells. I use eggshells myself, but I suspect seashells (that have been washed with fresh water to avoid adding salt to your bin, and perhaps crushed with a hammer) would provide a similar source of calcium. Moderation would be important, as always – you certainly don’t want a worm bin full of sea shell shards (try saying that 3 times fast!!), as these would likely be quite abrasive.