A Morning with the Red Wiggler Worms! An Update.

by Les Albjerg
(Caldwell, Idaho)

This morning I spent a good 20 minutes working with my worm projects. Since several of the threads on the Blog have gone in other directions, I thought a clear update would be helpful those who are raising worms or considering the possibility.

1. Chris has updated his sidebar "Worm Fishing." It is well worth a visit or a revisit.

2. I am over 6 weeks into my scouring experiment, and all of the original worms are still looking great. They have a much nicer pink hue to them, and they are lively and tough. It is so easy to do, and working with clean worms is so much nicer stream side. I am going to declare this as a simple step to move the Red Wigglers to the next level. The "Sages" of yesteryear all say that scouring Red Wigglers is optional, but it makes fishing them so much easier and better. This week, I am transferring 5 dozen worms into a scouring container. It is nice to know that if I run out, most the experts consider them fishable without it.

3. I have a lot of eggs in my "Park Avenue" worm ranch right now. I have several baby and juvenile worms as well. These Red Wiggler worms overall look bigger and healthier than those in my regular compost bins. They should, they are being pampered! The "Park Avenue" was started with 200 worms from a local vermiculturalist, I wanted to start a new ranch at the same time the article came out. I have not counted the number of worms, but I am getting great reproduction.

4. After working with a 3 gallon bin and an 18 gallon bin, I have found the bigger bin is much easier to manage than the smaller one. Since I do garden, I am going to discontinue my 3 gallon bin, and use my large bin for composting as well as a reserve supply of Red Wigglers. I am not sure how many thousands of worms are in the 18 gallon tote!

5. I have a couple of other experiments I am working on. I am also trying to sift through all the materials I have found on Scouring. I am hoping to compile that information and post it here for you to check out.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.