DD wants a wormery, can you recommend one?

[LG Gone Wild]

It is basically a worm farm. I saw one at a school store but it was 25 bucks plus you had to pay another 10 to get the worms. Surely there is a better deal to be had.

Have any of you done these nature projects. I would like to know your experiences.

[jail warden]

I thought Rainbow Resources sold one. I don't have a clue about price though, of course I'm not sure, I do know they had an ant farm, so I'm wondering if they don't have one of these too? Worth a try.

[Karen in CO]

Is she thinking several worms or hundreds of worms? You can build a vermiculture (worm composting) bin pretty inexpensively and you can order worms online at several places - I have ordered from a place called The Worm Man. My worm bin is a large, dark plastic bin with air holes. I use old cardboard, newpapers and leaves for the bedding layer, a little dirt for starters, then table scraps and coffee grounds. I am growing lovely black dirt that will make my garden sing this spring. At least that is the plan. The dirt looks great and the basement smells like peat.

[Stirsmommy]

Is she thinking several worms or hundreds of worms? You can build a vermiculture (worm composting) bin pretty inexpensively and you can order worms online at several places - I have ordered from a place called The Worm Man. My worm bin is a large, dark plastic bin with air holes. I use old cardboard, newpapers and leaves for the bedding layer, a little dirt for starters, then table scraps and coffee grounds. I am growing lovely black dirt that will make my garden sing this spring. At least that is the plan. The dirt looks great and the basement smells like peat.

Karen,
How warm is your basement. The part I am thinking I could use for a composter isn't exactly a warm spot. Better than out side but not great like the rest of the house.
Melissa

[Jeanne in MN]

Have you considered doing a search on line on how to make one homemade? I know i have a magazine article and a book that both tell how to make one. If you want, I can copy instructions for you. I am not having an easy time keeping track of threads on this board, so you may have to yell at me or something. :)

[Hen Jen]

my husband has a worm farm. He made it from a big, dark rubbermaide container- he drilled holes in the bottom so it would drain... he's not home right now, but I will ask him where he found the directions to do it, or how he did it. He keeps them in the garage.

[mcconnellboys]

Cut the top off a 2 liter coke bottle. Fill with soil and place some leaves or other detritus you find on the ground on the top. Add red worms you've dug from this same area, as whatever you find on top of the ground in that area is probably what those particular worms are accustomed to eating.

Place black construction paper around the outside of the bottle so that the worms will not shy away from digging right at the edge (so you can see some of their work). You can remove this whenver you want to look at them and then replace later.

Use an old stocking (hosiery) leg and pull down over the top to provide ventilation while preventing escape of your worms.

Remember to mist (lightly) occasionally, so that the dirt/worms do not dry out too much. But take caution not to drown them, either.

You will see that the leaves, etc. you put on top of the ground will be worked down into the soil as the worms pull them into their burrows and eat them. You will need to replenish their supply of food periodically.

Regena

[GothicGyrl]

If you don't want to do all of that work, try Carolina Biological (http://www.carolinabiological.com), they have all sorts of cool stuff...

[Karen in CO]

Melissa,
My basement is cooler than the rest of the house, maybe 50's at night. They are doing fine. One big caution if you are going to compost inside, Fruit Flies. I had to make sure that no one put banana peels in the worm bin because we had a terrible problem with fruit flies and I almost dumped the worms into the snow until I figured out that our bananas were the problem.

[LG Gone Wild]

She loves digging for worms anyhow.

Cut the top off a 2 liter coke bottle. Fill with soil and place some leaves or other detritus you find on the ground on the top. Add red worms you've dug from this same area, as whatever you find on top of the ground in that area is probably what those particular worms are accustomed to eating.

Place black construction paper around the outside of the bottle so that the worms will not shy away from digging right at the edge (so you can see some of their work). You can remove this whenver you want to look at them and then replace later.

Use an old stocking (hosiery) leg and pull down over the top to provide ventilation while preventing escape of your worms.

Remember to mist (lightly) occasionally, so that the dirt/worms do not dry out too much. But take caution not to drown them, either.

You will see that the leaves, etc. you put on top of the ground will be worked down into the soil as the worms pull them into their burrows and eat them. You will need to replenish their supply of food periodically.

Regena