Red Wigglers

[SNap0283]

I know there are a few posts on here already but I had to go back 4-5 pages to find them and I figured it might be time to bring it up again.

Ive watched some youtube videos and read up on them, just ordered 1lb to be delivered next week and I was wondering if anyone who currently keeps them has any tips or things they have learned. Basically everywhere says they eat anything and can be kept in any container. Im sure some things just seem to work better than others and since the purpose here would be to feed them to discus perhaps feeding certain foods might produce better results than others?

so basically Red Wiggler veterans, what are your secrets??

[Keith Perkins]

I discontinued my 2 tubs recently but I was feeding melon rinds, bananas, apples, coffee grounds, potato peelings, pretty much any vegetable peelings actually. Citrus is about the only thing I remember having to stay away from.

[RogueDiscus]

I'm going to jump in here with what I do and I'll be glad to share more if you have questions.
Steve

If you are just trying to raise worms, it’s pretty easy to do once you have a starter batch of worms. I use two stacked Rubbermaid bins; a 14 and a 10 gal. I drill 1/16” air holes all around the sides of the 10 gal’s near the top, and ¼” drain holes all over the bottom, and set it in the 14 gal with a cover. I put in all our kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps, except citrus or really fatty things like avocado. There’s a lot of coffee grounds and filters. I add “brown” stuff like leaves, cardboard(!), or newspaper if it’s too gooey.

Once established, you can add more food once every couple weeks in one corner and the worms will move around. You can dig out the “eaten” stuff to make room for more, picking out and returning any worms that are easy to grab, and throwing the “dirt” in your garden. The “worm tea” in the lower bin is good liquid fertilizer, but I would dilute it until you get a feel for its strength.

The fish like them, like most foods, once they get used to them. Like any animal food, they are what they eat, but IMO, they are of most value for the protein they become, with the caveat that they will always contain some of what they’ve eaten in their digestive system, so keep it organic. The fish easily eat the small ones, and they’ll try for the bigger ones. I cut up the bigger ones and watch to make sure they clean them up.

Our climate here is such that I can keep my bins outside and only need to cover and protect them from freezing for a short period of time during the year. That means the inevitable flies and fruit flies really bother me. You will get flies.

If you want your worms to eat all your kitchen scraps, you’ll need more bins. That's a different job. I have a dozen bins to compost all our scraps. In the spring I divide them all in half and sell the half to folks wanting to start their own bins. A nice few extra bucks for gardening $.

[SNap0283]

Thanks for the in depth response that helps a lot. Is bread alright to throw in the mix? I read a few places to use eggshells which seemed odd to me. You mentioned only feeding once every couple of weeks? Most things I have read say they eat their own weight every other day. Has this not been your experience? Also on the holes you drill out, do the worms ever escape? I will need to keep them inside since I live in an apartment and them escaping lets just say wont work for me. How deep to you keep the "bedding" and what dirt mixture do you use when you divide up and start new bins?

[Akili]

Vermicomposting 101 http://www.wormcomposting.ca/vermicomposting-101/

[SNap0283]

Vermicomposting 101 http://www.wormcomposting.ca/vermicomposting-101/

Thanks for the additional info, ive read all these things. Im not looking to keep these worms to make my flowers pretty, just my discus. Theres not a lot of info on how to keep them as discus food. Maybe theres not much different but I figure with all the experiences members we have here and all the curious minds im sure all the different ways have been tried and im curious if anyone has found some ways to be better than others when it comes to raising them as discus food.

[MKD]

I keep 3" bed miracle grow potting soil and newspaper. From my experience, i killed whole colony by fed too much fruit. Once summer, it was time to clean backyard. My jujubee tree had nothing left but bad ones or unfinished eaten by birds. I thought it could be good for wigglers, dumped all in and not worry about feeding for few weeks. Next thing I found out, fruit broke down and created a sugar dam, kill them all.

[dprais1]

I use worm bedding sold in the bait area of any major retail store. for best growth use whatever plant material(minus peppers, citrus and avacado), add some bread type stuff, and an egg shell once or twice a month. Put in in a blender or nutri-bullet, and add to your colony. breaking it down to 'slush' means they will consume it much faster. MUCH FASTER.

the eggshells help to stabilize the Ph and help them do digest the food. replace 1/2 to 1/3 the bedding every 3-4 months.

whiteworms are another good food but will benefit from some dog or cat food added to the mix.

[RogueDiscus]

"Our climate here is such that I can keep my bins outside and only need to cover and protect them from freezing for a short period of time during the year. That means the inevitable flies and fruit flies really bother me. You will get flies."

I meant to say the flies DON'T bother me. If you plan to keep them indoors, then you may want to consider screening over (or glued under?) the air holes. I saw this online somewhere. My use of many small air holes is intended to reduce the number of regular flies that get in.

I almost wrote to add scraps every week or two, but didn't want to overdo it. I figure there's about a gallon of worms in the 10 gal bin, so it takes them a while to break down everything. I'm not sure how that compares to eating their weight every day or so. As mentioned above, it goes faster if its chopped up. You'll have to gauge that yourself.

They will try to escape if the conditions aren't good enough; too wet, not enough air or food. You may want to set your bins inside another tray or something.