Comments on: Aged Manure – Ultimate Food For Red Worms

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 17:52:22 +0000

In reply to Rob.

Hey Rob – I’ve been using “wild” Red Worms for years now. If your heaps are absolutely loaded with Red Worms there is a VERY good chance you have the correct kind of worms. The other “Red Worms” – Lumbricus rubellus tend to occur in lower numbers, and usually closer to the bottom of outdoor beds (or at least where temps are cooler). It is rare to see them in anywhere near the same densities as Eisenia sp worms. Be sure to check out this post for photos of both of these worms: http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/catching-wild-red-worms/

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 02:40:13 +0000

Curious how your wild red worm bins turned out? We have horses and our piles are full of red worms. I would love to save time and money by using these to populate my bins on a commercial level but am afraid that they will be the wrong species. Thoughts?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 17:40:45 +0000

Is there a danger of just throwing in a fresh pile of cow manure right in for feed? I found a pile of cow manure under a tree. It wasn’t very wet or too dry. I threw it in my bin and my worms went crazy! They haven’t even really touched the other foods I’ve given them. Is it bad to feed them only manure?

By: JOHN KOUNAS

JOHN KOUNAS — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:29:07 +0000

As a youngster, my friend and I used to fish on the Missouri River just south and slightly east of Sioux City, Iowa. At that time the city had one of the largest cattle, hog, and sheep stockyards in the nation. My friend introduced me to “manure worms” what you refer to as red wigglers. We would go to the stockyards, find large heaps of cow or sheep manure, or better yet a shaded area where water used to clean out the pens drained on to or damp not wet manure. Joe my friend and I had all the red wigglers we could handle, in fact one spring my brother and I dug up a large galvanized wash tub of them. They varied in size, usually those found in damp shaded dirt or manure piles that were moist, were 3-4 times bigger than those we found in manure piles.

As for fish bait they are great. They secrete a yellow juice and boy do the fish go it: catfish, carp, sauger, and just about any other species. We used them for pan fish and they went nuts.

Point that needs to be made if using manure BE SURE TO WASH YOUR HANDS EXTREMELY WELL AFTER HANDLING OR USING THEM OR HANDLING THEM.

By: Alfonso

Alfonso — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:08:28 +0000

I have red worms of 20 cms ( 7.87 Inches ).

I put 5 cocoons in a 5 ga bucket and 50 cocoons in other bucket of the same size, and fed worms with kitchen foodwaste blended with watter, so there is always a kind of mud. from the 5 cocoons I got 30 worms of 7.8 inches and in the other bucket I got a lot like 600 but only 4 inches long,
In other bin I put other 5 cocoons and fed them only with carton that I blended with water it was like a mud of carton. I got 16 worms but also 7.8 inches long and very fat

So I think size is related to the space, and a very wet enviroment,

By: Bruce Magnuson

Bruce Magnuson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:29:56 +0000

I feed my rabbits, rabbits pellets and orchard grass, I then throw that mix in old truck bed liners with worms every 3-4 months, worms love it. I wanted to add cardboard and news paper but their safety as non toxic I could not confirm. All I got was made in china? I have lots of oak trees around and allot of leaves, Oak leaf mulch is right up there with rabbit manure so I added that to the bin, The oak leaves turbo charged my worms! The other thing is never use chlorinated water on your worms or garden! Check out my site http://gardenfreshfilter.com

By: Herbie

Herbie — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:57:10 +0000

RABBIT MANURE?? I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has used rabbit manure extensively for worm food. How long have you let it age before adding to or making a new bed? What has been combined with it to make the worm bed or make it an acceptable food? Does most of the urine need to be removed before using? Thanks!

By: Candin

Candin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:11:47 +0000

I forgot to add this. If the well aged horse manure is of no nutritional value. It certainly is cheaper then Peat (and renewable) and is great bedding material. Peat adds no nutritional value and is pretty expensive also. Comments?

Candin

By: Candin

Candin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:08:28 +0000

I just picked up some real aged horse manure at a ranch. It was in a huge pile and me being concerned with the daily worm medication they give them, wanted to ensure the meds had been well leached out. Not as much concerned with nutriion as I am with wiping out my flock. I will test it on a smal scale and perhaps go back for the “newer” manure?

They provide daily deworming meds to their horses here in Texas from what I understand.

Candin

By: Lee in Iowa

Lee in Iowa — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:00:27 +0000

Hey, Nick! You might not “have access to” horse manure, but you can get access to it. Look in the Yellow Pages and try and find a nearby riding stable. Polite approaches to ask for manure have always worked for me, no matter where I lived. Oftentimes the stable manager will direct you to the oldest pile, for manure you can immediately put on the garden, and to the newer piles which you can use for wormfood. Think about it. Every single horse poops 100 pounds a day! They NEED you to come with buckets and bins and shovel up some of their goodies.