Grains for Worms
Here is an interesting question from Ruthie:
my husband and i are new to worm farming and have read just
about everything i can find regarding food for the worms; we have a
“cultured” nightcrawler which we are going to use for castings and
fish bait; i have seen the mention of grain feeding and would like to
know which grains would be best? what ratios to use etc. there has
been a mention of rye & barley?would appreciate any information you can supply me with.
Hi Ruthie,
I’m not really an expert on this topic, but my hope is that by posting this on the blog we’ll get some comments from readers who do use a lot of grain foods for their worms.
I honestly think a lot of grain products would work well. I’ve heard that a lot of people use chicken ‘laying mash’ as a worm fattener, but have not tried this myself. I’ve used wheat bran mixed with food waste slurry (my homemade manure), but it’s hard to say how effective it was given the fact that it was mixed with a lot of other materials.
I’ve also used brewery wastes (which, according to some experts is an excellent material for worms) but actually found them very difficult to work with – they went anaerobic (and nasty) very easily and the worms didn’t seem to care for them at all.
You mentioned culturing ‘nightcrawlers’ successfully – I would be interested to learn what type of nightcrawlers you are referring to. I have yet to come across someone who has had a lot of success with soil nightcrawlers (such as the Canadian Nightcrawler – Lumbricus terrestris), given their requirements.
Thanks
Written by Bentley on February 24th, 2009 with
8 comments.
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Bentley
Robert
John Augenstein
Andy
1937 lb of Organic Waste, and Counting!
#1. March 2nd, 2009, at 5:53 AM.
Hey Bentley,
First, you have a great site! I especially appreciate the videos that you have posted. I can tell that you have put a lot of time and effort in putting all this information together. Your work is greatly appreciated!!
I don’t have any worms yet. But, I plan to get some in the next couple of weeks. That will give me time to follow your recommendation to set up the bin and allow it to rot for a couple of weeks before adding worms.
I don’t know what type of nightcrawlers Ruthie is referring to either. Like you, I’ve not met anyone who has been successful with soil nightcrawlers. But, I have read about a lot of success in raising two other nightcrawlers.
The first is the African nightcrawler (eudrilus eugeniae). It is supposed to be a very prolific composting worm. And, I have read that it reaches sizes that are comparable to the Canadian nightcrawlers. One man claims to have seen one that was 15 inches in length! But, unlike the Canadian nightcrawlers, the Africans are very heat tolerant and very cold intolerant. They are supposedly at their very best when temps are above 70 degrees F.
The second is the European nightcrawler (eisenia hortensis). They are cousins to the Red Worm (eisenia fetida). They look so much like an overgrown Red Worm that some call them Red Worms on steroids!! They are much, much bigger than the Red Worm. Yet, they are smaller than the Africans or the Canadians. From what I have read about them, they multiply slower and do not have the voracious appetite of the Red Worm. But, you raise them in the exact same way that you raise Red Worms. And, if their bedding gets a bit wet, it’s no problem. They actually tend to like more moisture than the Red Worms.
Since I am wanting big worms to fish with, I intend to try both the African crawler and the European crawler.
I hope this information was helpful to you and others. If you need any help locating any of these worms, you are welcome to email me and I will see if I can point you in the right direction!
Robert