I checked on my TTTWC bins this morning. It’s been a little longer than I’d hoped since my last observation. “Thankfully”, things have been going fairly slowly – likely due to the ~ 64 F (< ~ 18 C) temps in my basement. So it doesn't look like I've missed out on too much. That said, I'm happy to report that one of my bins now has two (visible) cocoons in it (one pictured below)!
Strangely, I couldn’t find ANY cocoons in the other bin with worms (even though the worms are just as big and fertile looking) – but there’s a chance I may have missed one or two. We’ll see.
Interesting to see some fairly-intact broccoli in the bin with no worms (as compared to same material in worm bins). I guess even a couple of worms can make a difference!
I actually found a very mature (dark, but still viable) cocoon in the no-worm bin. Obviously, it must have been added with the living material I (foolishly) transferred from an active worm bin back when I got things set up. I was somewhat tempted to leave it in, but the idea of having a no-worm comparison bin has been growing on me. So it got sent back home!
Interested to find out how many TTTWC participants have cocoons by now. Be sure to leave your comments below!
😎
Hi Bentley, I started my tiny tubes on 2-1-15, checked them on the 15th. One tub still had two worms, another tub, I was only able to find one worm. In the third tub, I found three worms so transferred one to the tub that had just one worm. No cocoons yet. One other thing I am trying is two worms in a folded down one gallon grow bag. The idea is that it lets air in from all sides, similar to a Worm Inn. Just need to watch the moisture much closer.
It has been awhile since I have checked in ere. I have had two bins with one worm and one with two. Two weeks ago when I checked I had a big surprise! One of the one worm bins had two worms in it! And then today when I checked the other one worm bin also had two worms in it. These are not new worms, they are much too big for that. Somehow they had escaped my search for them for 3-5 weeks!
Two weeks ago the bins were beginning to smell bad. I decided to move them outside even though I was concerned about the temperature in such small bins. The worms are way more lively since they have been outside and are growing much faster. (It has not been freezing temperatures.)
There is one worm that I suspect is mature; I don’t think the others are.
I hope to get information about this project up on my blog this weekend.
Started my one bin with three worms January 6 (I was afraid to have only two worms in the bin in case one didn’t make it so I used three). It is still called TTT(three)WC. As of Monday 2/16 there are 8 cocoons in the bin. When I checked last Monday (2/9) there were none. Therefore in one weeks time the three now mature worms laid 8 cocoons! I added another cube of pumpkin because the last cube was basically down to the skin. I’m very excited with this experiment and will be making weekly observations.
Joe, I like your pumpkin idea. I assume you cooked it first. True?
The wormies sure love their pumpkins. Those along with others from the same family (cucurbits?), such as squash and cucumbers. I have never cooked the pumpkin, is it better to cook it? Do they like it better that way? (I would imagine that it probably composts quicker being cooked.)
I haven’t participated in the experiment yet, wondering if it is too late now.
Janet
I had to restart twice, but now I have 2 containers, each with two very large, mature worms! In one container I found 4 cocoons, the other 2. I suspect there may be more cocoons since I’m using 2 litre containers (no little ones in the house), and I wasn’t very thorough in my searching. Next go round I will definitely use smaller containers. Also added some dry bedding b/c both were starting to smell (hence the hasty searching).
Karuna, no I do not cook the pumpkin. The pumpkin was cubed fresh, from Halloween, and placed in gallon bags in the freezer. When thawed it pretty much goes to mush and the worms love it.
I checked my tiny tub for the first time in a couple of weeks this morning. Just out of interest how do other people check their tubs? I couldn’t see much just from poking around, so ended up tipping the whole lot out and gradually putting the newspaper and cardboard back in the margarine container until I found the worms. But I don’t think the worms enjoyed this process very much!
Both of my worms are mature now, and I found one cocoon. Originally I started the bins with a layer of rabbit poo between the newspaper/cardboard layers, but when I was putting everything back I thought the “food” layer looked a bit light so I put 3 frozen zucchini ends in -I don’t want the worms to go hungry just as they’ve started breeding.
I dump them out on a plate, making sure I use a different plate for each bin so nothing gets mixed. Frequently I find that the worms are in the bottom of the bin so I just leave them there, or when I find them I put them back in the bin as I sort through everything else.
I currently have ten cocoons in my tiny tub. Last week I found 7 and the week before 4. I’m going to assume that there will be baby worms to look for very soon. I have no idea how I will find them!!! It is currently a little cooler here. The 42 degrees Celsius (107F) a few weeks ago was a little ridiculous.
The tub that was kept warm(70′) had three worms and 12 cocoons. The tub that was cold(56′) had 3 worms and no cocoons. The tub that was in the greenhouse so warm days usually and cold nights (40′) had 3 worms, 1cocoon and 1 baby worm. These were started with immature worms on Jan 9.
Last week end’s check did not reveal any cocoon yet, and the 2 worm bin with 2 immature worms has now one, but given that the brown paper has tendency to stick together, the second one may have been in between 2 stuck pieces of paper …
One of the problems I may have, is that even if i picked worms that look like each other, maybe they are form different species … I have “big red” and “red wigglers”, which I think means i have euros and E. Foetida … Until now, the pairs looked very similar though.
I currently have 17 cocoons (3rd week of finding cocoons). I was also very happy to find my first baby worm today!
Yesterday was an upsetting and discouraging day. I checked mine for the fifth time. Last time there ended up being two very active and healthy worms in all three bins. Was so exciting since there had only been one in two of them in the past.
Anyway I had moved my bins outside because they had started to smell. Outside they were thriving, more than in the house. But it started getting colder so I moved them to the basement. I think the basement was too cold. In the first bin yesterday there were two very tiny worms. I was excited although they didn’t look very healthy I don’t know where they came from since the bigger worms hadn’t been mature. I was dismayed when I went through the bin though and found that the two bigger ones were gone. Even more dismayed when I found one of them had gotten out of the bin and died.
In the second bin there was one worm and it was much smaller and unhealthier than last week. I found another dead worm on the ground so it must have come from one of the bins where there is a missing worm. 🙁
In the third bin were two very healthy and very active worms. I think they are probably mature. I didn’t see any cocoons but by then I was upset about the fact that the other worms had died because I left them too cold and obviously in a position where they could get out.
I’ve changed two of the bins to taller yogurt containers with lids and will find something for the third one today. I thought about stopping the project but I will continue and see if the remaining worms get healthy.
Found 4 cocoons, and a newcomer (3 worms total)! more on my blog
http://chfermetteaquaponicsanewyork.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-worm-experiment-update.html