Comments on: 50 Cocoon Challenge Wrap-Up

By: Marty

Marty — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 23:28:41 +0000

i agree fully with cocoon counts…that would take a long time. A method that works well for me is the light overhead and make many mounds. I use a marinating brush, (made of some sort of rubber) to brush away the castings. I usually take on some other task while i do this process (as the worms need time to hide from the light).. the brush is key to this process.
I went to school for lab science..they pounded the scientific process in me!! …but
…your experiments are too good not to count the worms though. 🙂 lol

I only got in to this 6-8 months ago with my kids-through word of mouth a large establishment has me researching to possibly implement vermicomposting to many people.
ill send some links your way..the one i can think of specificly is a video from New Zealand. It might be more approprate to get some links off you though…i am new at this
my email is maui.ont@hotmail.com

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:53:57 +0000

Hey Marty,
I guess it’s all a matter of perspective as far as what a “long time” is – but any time I’ve done worm/cocoon tallies it has taken hours. I have a good quality weigh balance – that’s certainly not my limitation. lol

I prefer to keep a lot of my “experiments” (always use the term loosely) in the realm of fun, rather than taking them too seriously. I don’t want people to take my findings and run with them since they are never being conducted in a rigorously scientific manner (and I always make that clear).

Please share some of the literature you are referring to. 4-6 weeks seems pretty standard for Red Worms based on my own reading. In one of the chapters in Vermiculture Technology, Dominguez and Edwards suggest 28-30 days as the average time for hatchlings to mature. They’ve come up with their numbers based on numerous academic studies.

This compares well to maturity times a large-scale worm farming friend shared with me from his own operation.

By: Marty

Marty — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:04:22 +0000

I agree with Harley…. The scientific process in not complete without proper obseravations….It doesnt take too long to seperate worms from castings-if using a good process. They say, 1000 wigglers equal one pound (450 grams aprox)…they sell “jewlery scales” at any market or bodeagas these days for under $20.
I did like reading your challenge though-Ive gone through my pure castings to pull out the cocoons to rehatch.
Full grown worms after six weeks?? goes against most of the literature i’ve read-but im hoping youre right and they’re wrong…ill get back to you on that one!!

By: Christian

Christian — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:36:33 +0000

I’m looking forward to watching the 4WRE this time, as the reproductive process with these creatures fascinates me so much. I started out with about 250g (half-pound) of red wigglers on Halloween and it’s exactly three weeks now. If 250g contains roughly 500 worms, I’d love to know where I’m at now. No worms have been trying to escape and now that the ecosystem is well established they seem to be tearing through the food quickly. I’d like to think that these would be ideal conditions for some worm romance.

Hopefully your experiment will shed some light on the subject. Get to it!

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:40:02 +0000

Hi Harley – you must have been speed-reading! lol
😉

As mentioned, I’ve been feeling uncertain about the significance (if any) that the final tally will have. It will take a LONG time to count all the worms and cocoons in this material, and because I fed the system so infrequently (and not according to any consistent schedule), this in no way demonstrates the potential for a worm population to develop in 6 months.
I’d like to test this out by starting another of my “Four Worm Reproduction Experiments”.

All that being said, I may still try to get at least try to get some idea of the quantity of worms left in the material – and if nothing else, all those cocoons would certainly come in handy for my planned straw and cardboard “50 Cocoon Challenges”!
8)

By: Harley

Harley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:47:13 +0000

hey bentley,
you didn’t tell us how many worms you ended up with?

Harley.