I checked on my “Tiny Tubs” today.
Here are my cocoon counts:
Bin #1 – 13 cocoons
Bin #2 – 0 cocoons (remember, my worms disappeared early on and I decided to keep it as a comparison bin)
Bin #3 – 15 cocoons
Temperature down in the basement is still around 17 C (~63 F).
The adult Red Worms in the two worm bins are still looking big and healthy. No sign of juveniles yet.
Food levels were looking pretty low, so I added some frozen kale to all 3 tubs.
It’s important to note that I am almost certainly missing some cocoons. The idea here is to keep this experiment going, and make it as easy as possible to perform my check-ups (that goes for all of you participating as well), NOT to get bogged down for hours trying to sort through every last fragment of worm bin habitat. Over the long haul, the true population growth will become apparent anyway, since it is very easy to spot worms (especially adults) in these tiny bins.
The fact that the cocoon counts from my two active bins are pretty close at least seems to indicate that my search efforts are quite consistent. And when it comes down to it, I doubt I am missing more than 2 or 3 cocoons.
Would love to know if any participants have juveniles yet!
Be sure to leave your comments below.
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I just counted this morning. I have the original two adults, 4 juveniles and 14 cocoons. It is five weeks since I found my first cocoons.
Began Tiny Tub experiment on 1/13/15:
Tub #1, 2 immature, Red Wigglers, in plastic coffee can, 62F; Bottom cardboard layer, Peat, Leaf compost, aged cow manure.
Tub #2, 2 Immature European N. C.’s in plastic coffee can, 62F temperature. Bottom-cardboard, peat, leaf compost, aged Cow manure.
2/7/15: worms in both tubs appear to be nearing puberty, very healthy, no babies, no cocoons.
2/19/15: Both Red Wigglers are Mature, look healthy, no babies, no cocoons; Euros are grown; no babies, 11 cocoons.
3/2/15: Wigglers full grown, appear very healthy, no babies, no cocoons, temp 63F, eating all feed.
Euros: Mature, healthy, eating food, no babies, 17 cocoons, 63F temp. Enjoyable.
I stopped participating. The rest of the worms in two of the tubs died after I moved them into tubs that they couldn’t get out of. When I opened them the next time there was mold and some kind of flies in them and in addition one of them had creatures that I think were maggots. The third tub had two very healthy worms but I decided I wasn’t willing to do anything that would kill more worms so I put them back into my main worm bin. I saw no cocoons in any of the tubs.
One of the nice things about this project was that I was able to watch particular worms develop in a way that they could be actually seen as individuals. That was a wonder to me and I feel sad that I was responsible for their deaths.
Sorry for backing out.
Kirsty – that’s great! What temp (approx) are you keeping the systems at?
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Charles – very interesting! So Euros are definitely doing much better at the cooler temps? I need to set up some Euro tubs!
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Karuna – no worries! You don’t need to apologize. As much as I want people to stick it out – the most important thing is that it be fun for participants! There should absolutely never be guilt associated with the Tiny Tub Challenge! lol
If you feel inspired to get involved again at some point, great! But no pressure.
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My system is just in the kitchen of my house. I have recorded temperatures. We’ve had everything from 18-42C!
I found 11 cocoons, but no baby worms. I found my first cocoon on the 20th of February, so hopefully they’ll start hatching soon.
Hey Bentley isn’t it time to count again? 😉
I’ve started my first floght through bin yesterday thanks to the information from your side. Thank you for the good articles and assembly of information from other sources!
Kirsty – WOW, 42 C is very warm (would kill the worms if it stayed that warm for long).
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Toni – sounds good! Keep us posted
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Sepp – Definitely time for an update. Did some counts last night. Hoping to post about it this afternoon.
Grandson and I checked Tiny Tubs on 3/20/2015.
Tub #1, Wigglers, Both adults mature, healthy, no cocoons, no babies, Temp 63F, eating feed.
Tub #2, Euros, large, healthy, 41 cocoons, no babies, 63F, eating veggie scraps and Purina Worm Chow.
Room temps should start increasing soon. Maybe cocoons will hatch and Wigglers will start producing. Interesting.
Both breeds doing well in totes and bulk bins. Lot of cocoons and juveniles. Located in same room with TT’s.