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?

Steve

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:39:50 -0600, "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?

Steve



Not difficult at all, though it will take a few weeks to get your
first "crop" of worms.

Google "worm farm" -- you'll find lots of worm farms who will sell
you worms by the 100's or 1,000's, or, you can by worm egg cases.

I built a new house last summer, moved in in July. Built six raised
beds, 12 ft X 12 ft. Purchased 500 worm egg cases. Filled the boxes
with half-and-half topsoil and compost (several tons, delivered in
dumb truck, moved one wheelbarrow load at a time !!). Raked in the
worm cases, which hatched, and now I have worms all over the place.

"SteveB" wrote in message
...
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?


You will quickly discover that it's a lot less bother and much less costly
to simply spend the couple of bucks now and again to buy worms when you go
fishing... it only pays to become a worm farmer if you intend to make it a
full time business and market worms, mostly wholesale to those like where
you buy your worms. Anyway, you're a gardening failure, you can't even grow
a head of lettuce, how are you going to grow woims. Somehow you remind me
of that weird movie Squirm... Steven B. Squirm! LOL

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/squirm/

"SteveB" wrote in message
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?

I have an elderly friend who keeps garden worms in polystyrene containers in
his garage. I don't know if he harvests them from his garden or breeds tham
so that is no help to you. I do know that he keeps them in moist soil with
a moist hessian (burlap) sack on the top and just before we go out to fish,
he furkles aroudn in there and shove a few into an old margarine container
along with some soil and off we all go.

You could try harvesting some from the garden and doing as he does because
you might have problems finding then in the garden just when you want them.

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:39:50 -0600, "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?

Steve



I have several areas with rotting leaves directly on the ground that
have nightcrawlers, perfect for fishing. Also, compost is loaded
with large worms, big and fat. Make a pile (at least a cubic yard) of
organic material (50/50 green/brown) directly on the ground, introduce
a few nightcrawlers and in a month or so you will have enough worms
for fishing and more. Taking care of worms indoors is also possible,
though more bother than it's worth.

It is fairly easy to buy some fishing worms and put them in a garden
plot. If the soil is good, they will multiply quickly.
You can get nightcrawlers at a lot of convenience stores. There is
also an elderly resident on Tryon Road just West of Lake Wheeler that
sells fishing worms. He usually has a 'fishing worms' sign in his
front yard. It doesn't take a lot.
Then you just go out with a spade and dig them up. Works for me.
Never have a problem finding plenty of fishing worms.



On Aug 20, 6:08*pm, Phisherman wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:39:50 -0600, "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?

Steve

I have several areas with rotting leaves directly on the ground that
have nightcrawlers, perfect for fishing. * Also, compost is loaded
with large worms, big and fat. *Make a pile (at least a cubic yard) of
organic material (50/50 green/brown) directly on the ground, introduce
a few nightcrawlers and in a month or so you will have enough worms
for fishing and more. * Taking care of worms indoors is also possible,
though more bother than it's worth.

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?

Steve



Years ago a friend buried a car tire (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.

gloria p

"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.

"brooklyn1" wrote in message

I find it interesting how each and every responder talks about someone
they know but none have actually farmed worms themselves...

A lot of people here have had worm farms but the OP asked about garden worms
and growing garden worms. Worm farm worms are not garden worms.

"FarmI" wrote:
"brooklyn1" wrote:

I find it interesting how each and every responder talks about someone
they know but none have actually farmed worms themselves...

A lot of people here have had worm farms but the OP asked about garden
worms and growing garden worms. Worm farm worms are not garden worms.

The OP asked about earth worms as fishing bait, those are most assuredly the
garden variety earthworms. Earthworms are not easily farmed in all soil
types nor in all climates... if one lives in arid Utah they had best forget
DIY and buy from a bait store. Where I live in upstate NY fishing is as
popular a pastime as anywhere on the planet. Worms are easy to grow in NY's
rich deep topsoil (a lot depends on weather conditions), after a rainy night
before the sun is up I can go out with a flashlight and pick all the huge
night crawlers I want off my blacktop driveway, but still most buy worms, at
like $1.50 a container there's more than enough for two people to fish all
day... worms are readily available in just about every town, typically sold
at gas stations. If one wants to farm worms as a business or even as a
hobby fine, but it makes no economic sense for just ones own fishing, and
any left over worms can live in ones beer fridge for at least four days.

"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

When you googled it, the suggestion was to use a fridge? That is funny. It must have been a suggestion from a "redneck"? I mean, you would have to go look for a fridge and then have this fridge filled with dirt and imagine the eye sore that you will have in your yard. Not to mention how upset your neighbors would be to have this eye sore. That is funny to me.

Hi There
I am new to worm farming and i didnt know where to start but just wanted to give it a go. So thought i would have a search around the internet to see what info was available and couldnt really find much! However i did find a really great book to download which was incredibly informative and really easy to read. Now I am so excited as i have a better understanding as a complete novice and i highly recommend it to anyone starting out.
I found it under this website: Beginners Guide to Starting a Worm Farm

would appreciate any further advice from anyone.

Allotment Lady

You will bound ascertain that it's a lot beneath bother and abundant beneath costly to artlessly absorb the brace of bucks now and afresh to buy worms if you go fishing... it alone pays to become a ******* agriculturalist if you intend to accomplish it a full time business and bazaar worms, mostly broad to those like where you buy your worms.

Hi Steve, Answering as an angler, my first question has to be, what are you aiming to catch ? As a salmon angler the best worms are the black headed lobworms. For most types of coarse fish, redworms are best and try to avoid those 'brandlings' found in manure, they dont catch much !
For the lobworms, all you need is a torch, a damp night, a bit of stealth
and a playing field. Go out after dark on a damp evening and youll find loads, its not easy as any vibration will send them shooting back into thier burrows at a rate of knots but eventually you will get the hang of it. Bring them home and store them in a mixture of humus rich soil, mixed with shredded dampened newspaper, keep them cool and moist and they will toughen up as well, much better for fishing. For the redworms, place hessian sacks on the
ground and very soon youll have worms underneath.
One tip from experience, during the summer of 1976, I spent the whole of that very dry season collecting every worm I could find and even though I was a landscape gardener, it was so dry, they were scarce. It finally rained and I had planned a trip to my local river for seatrout, I asked my wife to go through the 'wormery' and gather together my precious worms. To my horror, she proudly announced that he had washed them for me (using fairy liquid) and there in my bait box lay my valuable worms, very clean but also very dead and totally useless Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Lannerman