Worm Farming: Finding Your Starter Worms
Setting up a worm farm is not difficult. In fact, you just need three things. One is the appropriate container for holding your worms. The next is plenty of healthy compost to feed your worms properly. And third is the worms themselves.
You should know that it is not a good idea to use wild worms to start your worm farm. You can actually buy worms that are specially bred for worm farms. They are the type of worms that are good at composting or desired as bait.
Even if you plan on having a small worm farm, you will still need a lot of worms. To establish a worm farm that is efficient at composting for a small family you will need to start with a minimum of 1000 worms.
To find your worms, visit your local bait store. Most of these places carry good composting worms along with the good bait worms. The Red Wiggler worm is noted for being a very good composter and is usually found in bait shops. Other worms which are a good choice include Florida Wigglers and Night Crawlers. If you can't find the type of worms you need at a bait shop then do a search online. You will find all kinds of worms for purchase online. You can even buy exotic varieties and egg capsules.
If you do plan to buy your worms online you will need to take shipping into consideration, both for the cost and for the stress it puts on your worms. Worms generally ship with ease but you will want to ask your supplier how they ship the worms and what their survival rate is.
You can also check your local garden center for worms. You will probably be able to find worm bins and books on worm farming there also. You can probably get the garden center to special order worms for you also if they do not stock what you are looking for.
Another idea for getting your starter worms is to buy them from fellow worm farmers. In fact, some worm farmers may be swamped with worms and will sell them at a low price or even give them away if you are going to use them to start a farm. You might even be able to get some helpful hints and tips from someone who has experience with worm farming. Just look in the yellow pages or ask the bait shop owner who supplies his worms.
Worm farming is fun and beneficial. In order to have a successful worm farm, you need to start out with the proper type of worm and make sure they are happy and healthy before you add them to your bins.
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