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Thread: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

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    Default Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    I'm thinking of starting a worm culture in my basement and wondered which one was the easiest, Red Wigglers or Black Worms?
    Last edited by sunny; 11-24-2011 at 02:57 PM.

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    Registered Member lipadj46's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    blackworms are aquatic

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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    Yeah I know guess I shouldn't have used the word "bin"

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    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    Red Wigglers.
    Mama Bear

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    Registered Member TURQ64's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    My red wiggler's are doing fine, but..They ain't makin' babies lately..dunno much about 'worm love', but I know something's up...need them little ones for feeding.
    The meek shall inherit the earth. The oceans are for the brave.

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    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    Quote Originally Posted by TURQ64 View Post
    My red wiggler's are doing fine, but..They ain't makin' babies lately..dunno much about 'worm love', but I know something's up...need them little ones for feeding.
    Breeding seems to wax and wain. You might consider reworking the culture...going through throughly it and putting the worms you find in a new bin with fresh dirt and new food. I just did that with my cultures. It does set them back a bit, but they come back strong and productive.

    Nothing is better for the garden than rich black vermicompost. I just added a bunch to a new flower bed that I was able fo fork up (that sounds rude, doesn't it) after a good rain the other day. I raked it in, and planted wild flower seeds in it. Down here in Discus Desert it's not too late to plant wild flowers.
    Mama Bear

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    Registered Member BoiseDiscusGuy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    Red wigglers are easier to raise, IMO, but does anyone know exactly how nutritious they are vs. BW?

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    Registered Member jimg's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    I tried the red wigglers in the cellar, they did fine but the fruit flies did better!!
    Jim

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    Homesteader Altum Nut's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    Hey Sonny,

    You might want to also consider compost worms. The other suggestions are just as great.

    ...Ralph
    "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
    -John Wooden

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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    I thought red wigglers were compost worms?

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    Homesteader Altum Nut's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    I take it the red wigglers are more like dew fishing worms like they sell in bait shops.
    My compost worm are more like a tooth pick small and much thinner.
    I may be wrong.

    ...Ralph
    "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
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    Registered Member Discus PB's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    If you go with red wigglers you can order a Worm Factory 360 4 teir for $150 and 2,000 worms with it. I found a place that sells extra bins cause you can have 8. They are $50 shipped for the four extra ones.
    Altum Nut you can feed the red wigglers a food mix and they will get really fat. I can look it up to see what you use to make it PM if you want and I will find it for and give it to you.
    Red wigglers are compost worms. A pound of red wigglers (2,000) will eat about a pound of food a day.You can pretty much use any type of earth worm for composting. Red wigglers are just the ones that eat the most and move to the top when they run out of food.

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    Homesteader Altum Nut's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    I guess i was mistaken. However the ones I had in my composter did not grow thicker or longer than a tooth pick.
    I've been seaching but can't find if there were called something else.
    Maybe mine were stunted...Ha-ha
    In any case, i no longer have the bin.

    ...Ralph
    "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
    -John Wooden

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    Registered Member Discus PB's Avatar
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    Default Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    Quote Originally Posted by Altum Nut View Post
    I guess i was mistaken. However the ones I had in my composter did not grow thicker or longer than a tooth pick.
    I've been seaching but can't find if there were called something else.
    Maybe mine were stunted...Ha-ha
    In any case, i no longer have the bin.

    ...Ralph
    Mine are skinny also. I did a little research on them before I bought the worms and the bin. You have to feed them some chicken meal mash mix to get them to get fat.
    Its called uncle jimes worm farm where I got mine bin and worms from.

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    Thumbs down Re: Home Grown Red Wigglers Or Blackworms?

    I love my "can o worms". I ordered it and 2000 worms, and the population is huge 2 years later. When its colder out they metabolism slows... Your not supposed to give them certain food, which can disturb them... If the pH goes low u can kill them. Add crushed lime if in doubt. Crushed eggshells also help. Also too much or too little moisture plays a role. Honestly I haven't added water to my bin since summer. Too help with fungus gnats, place the food under cardboard and keep the bin in a dark spot 24/7 and the gnats will go away. My bin has a drainage tray, and 3 trays on top. U can buy more trays if needed. Once a year when I harvest it, I put new coco fiber in the bottom tray as a good living base they will live in and eat. And the top 2 trays will be food scraps. The biggest mistake is overfeeding a new bin. If it smells bad its not a good sign... Also overfeeding can cause the food to physically start to decompose, which will create a lot of heat which is not good for the worms... There's also some recipes to fattening your worms. I was told to start with nothing less than 1000 worms, but starting with 2000 gets the population started a lot faster.

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