This is the main problem with information online. There is a good amount of misinformation out there. Some is given by those that do not even raise worms. Both mesquite and citrus woods I would avoid. You would be better using the ash from maple, poplar, walnut… for pH leveling.

Lime will work over time. Be sure to use a powder type listed as agricultural. For a quicker acting method, try using some hardwood (non citrus:-) ash from a fireplace…

My advise at this point would be to first off dampen some shredded newspaper and place approximately 1″ or so thick in a five gallon bucket or something similar. Pull out your worms and place them on top of the dampen newspaper. They will climb through hence giving them a rinse… Worm Wash

Then create a new bedding for them after thoroughly rinsing the worm bin.

If you do this, you most likely will save most if not all your worms from either dieing off in the bin or escaping it to only die on the floor…

Bruce

Before you get ahead of the horse, first you need to produce your worms, worm castings…

If someone becomes a potential buyer, they will most likely want samples for themselves to look at as well as might want samples of worm castings to send to a lab…

A worm farm is not an overnight setup. Take for instance our African Nightcrawlers. These worms at 6″ to 8″ are eight months old or so. Now other worms mature and grow faster as they are smaller. Take the red wiggler for example. You could be selling bed run stock with mature worms within three months rather than waiting eight months.

If you locate a buyer, you will need to be able to supply a steady commitment of so many pounds of worms, castings… per week, month or whatever your agreement is. In short, you need to establish your worm farm before trying to locate a buyer…

There are numerous places that you can purchase equipment. You can Google “commercial vermiculture equipment”.

As for a company setting you up, be careful of the fine print and what they are expecting of you. Remember if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

A suggestion would be to start out small with a few types of worms. Try different bin structures and find what works best for your needs. Decide if you are looking to sell worms, castings, cocoons… or all the aforementioned. Which type of worm(s) are you going to sell? Make sure you get your system down as it is much less costly to lose 50 or 100 pounds of worms than to lose an entire farm of a few tons of worms

Start selling locally and online from your own website. Establish yourself and expand from there.

If you take the time now, you will be much happier you did down the road!

Hope this helps,

Bruce

Thanks for the compliment on the newsletter. I try to make them informative as well as useful.

As to hardwood ash I am referring to the ashes from burnt hardwoods. In hindsight I guess I did not make that clear since there is an ash tree also., Hmm, blame it on human error

Yes, if the temperature drops enough, the worms become less active and eat less as well. If you can, try placing then next to the heat register in the floor or wall where they will get additional heating while the heater is running. Of course, do not block the register off as we would not want you to sacrifice warmth for your worms!

Hope that helps,

Bruce