"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:51:58 GMT, brooklyn1 wrote:

"Gloria P" wrote:
SteveB wrote:
I would like to have worms around here so when I go fishing, I don't
have
to drive a far distance and buy them. I googled, and they say to lay a
refrigerator on its side and use that for a home. Fill it with good
dirt
they describe. Keep it in a cool shady place and keep moist. How hard
is it to just get some going in the garden and dig some up when one
needs
them? Or is it better to have a fridge thing and have a good habitat
for
them? Just how hard are they to get going and keep going?

Years ago a friend buried a car tire

You could have just as easily began with "Once upon a time... and long
ago".

(on its side) nearly to the top.
He softened the dirt, added compost and a few worms and kept it watered
occasionally. In a short time he had more fishing worms within the tire
than he could possibly use in a lifetime. IIRC, he had no problem
keeping
then over the winter.

I find it interesting how each and every responder talks about someone
they
know but none have actually farmed worms themselves... a lot of
misinforming
"can you top this" barroom talk. I wonder how many related that Magic
Tire
story before you heard it...

there is no way a tire in of itself can
attract/contain more worms in a piece of ground than had there been no
tire.

LOL, but true. It does depend on what you put within the tyre. ;-)

I have two 240l worm farms with compost worms. I feed them with kitchen
scraps, ground up egg shells, vegetable peelings, coffee grounds and
grass clippings etc.

Seeing I had a few smaller worm farms now redundant which were empty
because I was no longer using them, I thought I would experiment by
introducing ordinary garden worms into one of them.

I first had to attract garden worms and a tyre would have been excellent
choice but I didn't have one

Hmm, pretty simple to obtain used tires, anywhere that sells tires would be
thrilled for somone to take all the discards they want.

so I used a large foam container which I cut the bottom out of

But a container with a completely open bottom is not very condusive for
worm farming, what's needed is a container with a lot of small holes in its
bottom, so that once the worms enter or are introduced more tend to remain
than leave. A tire is not a very good choice either, for the same reason.
Those large plastic storage tubs one finds for cheap at discount emporiums
work very well... and they should be placed one upon the other.

then dug a hole in a relatively cool position in
my garden and placed the foam container deep in the hole. I half filled
the foam container with grass clippings then put a couple of sheets of
newspaper across and added a bucket of water.

I now empty the teapot and coffee grounds into the foam container
regularly keeping it moist and after two weeks there is worm activity.
Because I have two dogs I'm limited to what I can put into the foam
container, for example if I put vegetable peelings in, the dogs would
probably start digging it up investigating.

Hmm, were a vermiculturist really desirous how difficult would it be to
protect a tiny foam container from dog's digging with a piece of wire cloth.
Many years ago as a young teen I raised tropical fish, so to cut feeding
costs I started a worm farm... you really can't grow worms very successfully
in a foam container. For a steady all year supply it's best to have ones
worm farm indoors, I kept mine in the basement, but there was no plastic
back then, I used discarded icebox liners (galvanized), back then an icebox
was miniscule compared to today's behemoths (the big worm farms used old
wooden barrels). Today plastic tubs are cheap, plastic contractor's buckets
would work well because they are stackable, they're strong, they even have
carrying handles. Were I to farm worms now I would definitely choose
contractor's buckets, or better yet I have like two dozen cat litter buckets
saved, I use them to store my compost. But for my own fishing needs I
wouldn't consider growing my own worms, it's far less bothersome and
infinitely less costly to buy worms at any fish bait station. Next week my
five year old grandson will be arriving to spend a few days in the country
before he begins kindergarten, the first thing we do when he arrives, even
before we get home is stop at the Sunoco station in town for worms. For a
buck fifty he gets a big handful of wriggly woims in a plastic container,
more than he will ever use fishing in my pond.

What kid doesn't like to go fishing:
http://i28.tinypic.com/2lcw6k5.jpg

I think this is the only thing he'd rather do than fish... still too
small... I only wish he were big enough to help:
http://i31.tinypic.com/2ldhezl.jpg