Earthworms and compost

[henryD]

Not sure if this had been tackled already or not...

But i was wondering if anyone has their own compost and whether it is safe to feed worms from there...

I was thinking about building my own worm farm and not sure about whether it would be safe to do so. I don't want to pass any tapeworms or other parasite onto the discus. The compost will be 100% indoor and feed with left over vegie and fruits...

[daninthesand]

Henry

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=3180;sta rt=0

Check out this link for info on red wigglers which are much like earthworms only smaller. I consider these worms "safe" for discus.

Daniel

[Francisco_Borrero]

Henry, I notice you are imn Londonderry, I assume NH.

Red wigglers (not earthworms) don't take too keenly of cold temperatures. In my experience, breeding rates drop significantly below 60F, and nearly stopped just a little below that. I know that compost piles generate their own heat (I keep a very large and productive one myself), but it gets too cold outside for the wigglers, and for the harvester !!
Also, summer time temperatures can get too hot unless well shaded.
In my opinnion, red wigglers do better indoors, close to 70F, but this doesn't mean they can't survive outside this mark.

Cheers, Francisco.

[henryD]

Thanks for the info frank....

I had a small compost going. I mainly kept it indoors. I had it actually on the counter next to the sink.

But I think my wife will have a problem with the bigger compost. Surprisingly the compost does not smell as bad as I thought it would. I may just leave the pile next to my office/fish room.

But I will definetly check into th red wrigglers....

Thanks everyone.

[henryD]

Great...going to order some worms soon....

Any suggestion as to where?

[Francisco_Borrero]

a number of sources are good, I have used a couple:

www.unclejim.com
www.wormman.com
www.marcweiss.com (I have not ordered from here, others have)

One thing to be careful of is not to begin harvesting until your culture is reproducing well, and then not to overharvest. It works better to have at least 2 cultures, so harvesting can be rotated.

Good luck, Francisco.