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Post by Tucson Grower on Jan 10, 2023 14:27:07 GMT -6
Many times, since I was 10, I've raised earthworms, usually the red worm - Eisenia fetida. But for these past 20 years, or so, I've frequently raised only the European nightcrawler - Dendrobaena hortensis, formerly Eisenia hortensis. Anyway, to save a few dollars, I simply purchase some eggs in cocoons. My most recent colonies were in ventilated, white, 5-gallon buckets. In order to keep them going, in our climate. Every morning I placed frozen ice packs inside their lids lying on a piece of cardboard or a paper plate. This kept the worms comfortable enough to thrive. Family events, early last year, Dec - Jun were too distracting and I failed to keep my worms cool enough. This time I plan to keep them inside, so I shouldn't need to bother with ice packs, but I have some available, just in case.
My order of eggs is expected to arrive this Thursday from Arkansas. Early this summer I expect to have another thriving colony.
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Post by macmex on Jan 11, 2023 6:51:48 GMT -6
We have a good population of them here, especially in the vegetable garden. Interestingly, they are easy to find in the early spring and go so deep during the heat of summer that one might think there were none.
What do you use them for?
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Post by Tucson Grower on Jan 11, 2023 7:23:39 GMT -6
In the summer I use some for fishing bait. I share them with family and friends. I also use them to eat my garbage and turn it into worm compost.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Jan 11, 2023 13:58:00 GMT -6
When I was digging in an area in preparation to plant some bamboo, I thought I had found worms, but it turned out they were just Rena humilis or western blind snake. It was a pleasant surprise.
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Post by macmex on Jan 12, 2023 6:51:15 GMT -6
That would be a very interesting find, indeed! I've dug up Western Slender Glass Lizards . This article doesn't mention them living underground, but that's where I found them. The ones I found did not drop their tails, as mentioned in the article, but then, I doubt I tried to pick one up. I just let them go on their way.
It's amazing how much life there is underground in the garden!
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jan 17, 2023 3:37:04 GMT -6
I obsessed over the Johnson Su Bioreactor for a couple of months a few ears back. I dug up and watched all his lectures and his how-to videos. But only in about a millisecond cut in one obscure video does he mention the 5 lbs of red wrigglers he adds to this monster compost bin right after its temp cools.
Basically, he built a well aerated and continuously watered compost, dumps in 5 lbs of red wrigglers, continues watering it and lets it sit for a year. It’s just a gigantic worm bin.
Because his study was requested by the feds (AG) they ran all sorts of testing and trials. The field testing results using the worm compost was outstanding. He mixes the fresh compost in with a bit of milk in a five gallon bucket and coats the seeds. Most effective if the seeds are planted out right away. I don’t remember the details, but the results of coating the seeds before drilling them into the field was phenomenal when compared to the control.
He posts how-to videos for common folks on his personal tube acct. Did it on the sly. They took his results and began manufacturing it in a lab and in the end, a company sells the coated seeds for profit. Your tax $ hard at work. He is or was based in one of the colleges in Arizona where he built the original composts.
All my worms died. I’m not ready to pick up some more, but if I do, I’ll be making that slurry. I highly recommend it. In fact, lemme find the video. His compost, of course, is probably superb. I think he’s a microbiologist. I imagine just worm compost would be adequate.
Dr Johnson Mixing Seed Coat Slurry
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