I started raising African Nightcrawler (ANC) earthworms February of this year. The worms I bought then weighed one kilo that were placed in two [half-full] sacks of pre-composted kitchen and garden waste.
It took me about three months to get the hang of it. I had to deal with worms escaping from their bins, scorching heat due to el nino, and worm food recipe.
Having started with two sacks of substrate, I now have 15 sacks of substrate. Each sack contains at least one-half kilo of African Nightcrawlers(ANC).
Starting couple of months ago, I have been collecting banana peels from the nearest public market because our kitchen and garden wastes are not enough to feed the worms.
I don't shred the banana peels anymore since I don't have a shredding machine. Manual shredding just takes too much time and effort.
I fill up each sack with banana peels weighing about 30 kilos and wait for two weeks before introducing one-fourth kilo of worms. I sort the vermicomposted substrate after sixty (60) days.
I have estimated my worm inventory at ten (10) kilos at the least. This includes escapees that meander in the garden. I use composted materials as mulch to feed escapee worms. Worm traps are set around the garden whenever there's a new sack.
I have been selling excess worms since July. I fully recovered the Php1,000.00 initial cost of worms in that month alone. Not bad.
More importantly, almost 100% of our biodegradable household solid waste is vermicomposted. Apart from kitchen and garden wastes, paper waste is also added to the sacks.
Vermicomposting allows me to do my part in saving Mother Earth.
Showing posts with label Earthworms as Pets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Earthworms as Pets. Show all posts
October 13, 2010
May 21, 2010
Help Mother Nature, Raise Earthworms as Pets
Climate change is not theory anymore. Immediately after Ondoy and Pepeng, El Niño swiftly made its presence felt.
The scorching summer heat, the hottest I have experienced so far, is a disturbing preview of things to come.
We need to take immediate corrective action. After all, it is our survival as a species that is at stake.
An effective way to help Mother Earth is to raise earthworms as pets!
We help Mother Earth in two ways when we raise earthworms as pets: first, we lessen our carbon footprint by lessening our need for landfills and the frequency of garbage collection; second, we return nutrients to earth when we use vermicompost to fertilize plants.
Go ahead, raise earthworms as pets and help Mother Earth!
The scorching summer heat, the hottest I have experienced so far, is a disturbing preview of things to come.
We need to take immediate corrective action. After all, it is our survival as a species that is at stake.
An effective way to help Mother Earth is to raise earthworms as pets!
We help Mother Earth in two ways when we raise earthworms as pets: first, we lessen our carbon footprint by lessening our need for landfills and the frequency of garbage collection; second, we return nutrients to earth when we use vermicompost to fertilize plants.
Go ahead, raise earthworms as pets and help Mother Earth!
March 15, 2010
Raising earthworms as pets: moisture, aeration, temperature and pH
Appropriate moisture. Earthworms breathe through their skin. The moisture in the bedding should range from 70% to 90%. In a tropical country like the Philippines, watering of the bedding should be frequent - 2x or 3x weekly -, especially during summertime. Excessive watering should be avoided.
Aeration. Worms need air to breathe. They don't need plenty of air as humans do but still, they need air. The bedding material should be porous and loose enough to facilitate airflow, moist but not wet since excessive water cuts off airflow thereby creating anaerobic conditions. This will quickly kill off the earthworms.
The bedding should not be compacted to ensure that worms can move from one place to another. The earthworms' movement encourages aeration of the bedding. Compaction of the bedding hinder the worms' movement.
Temperature. African Nightcrawlers can handle temperature ranging from 4 degrees celsius to 35 degrees Celsius. The bedding should protect them from extreme temperature.
In the Philippines, scorching summers are deadly to African Nightcrawlers. Earthworm bins should be placed indoors or under the shade of a tree. Surrounding your worm bin with potted plants also help lower the temperature in the bin.
pH Earthworms prefer a neutral pH but can live in a pH range of 5 to 9. Beddings tend become acidic over time depending on the food source. Adding calcium carbonate remedies acidic beds. High pH beds are rare.
The next post discusses pre-composting of high protein food wastes using Biolant BM concentrate.
SOURCE:"Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
Aeration. Worms need air to breathe. They don't need plenty of air as humans do but still, they need air. The bedding material should be porous and loose enough to facilitate airflow, moist but not wet since excessive water cuts off airflow thereby creating anaerobic conditions. This will quickly kill off the earthworms.
The bedding should not be compacted to ensure that worms can move from one place to another. The earthworms' movement encourages aeration of the bedding. Compaction of the bedding hinder the worms' movement.
Temperature. African Nightcrawlers can handle temperature ranging from 4 degrees celsius to 35 degrees Celsius. The bedding should protect them from extreme temperature.
In the Philippines, scorching summers are deadly to African Nightcrawlers. Earthworm bins should be placed indoors or under the shade of a tree. Surrounding your worm bin with potted plants also help lower the temperature in the bin.
pH Earthworms prefer a neutral pH but can live in a pH range of 5 to 9. Beddings tend become acidic over time depending on the food source. Adding calcium carbonate remedies acidic beds. High pH beds are rare.
The next post discusses pre-composting of high protein food wastes using Biolant BM concentrate.
SOURCE:"Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
March 14, 2010
Raising earthworms as pets: proper bedding for African Nightcrawlers
In a previous post, I have discussed the benefits of raising the African Nightcrawler earthworms as household pets. This post is the second installment on raising ANC worms as pets.
Proper bedding. The bedding is any material that provides a livable environment for earthworms. It must have the following characteristics: water retentiveness, good bulking potential (porosity and looseness), and high carbon and low nitrogen (low protein) content.
The bedding must be able to retain water. The African Nightcrawler earthworm breathes through its skin and needs moisture to do so. An earthworm dies if its skin dries up.
The bedding must be porous and loose. Earthworms require air to breathe and a dense bedding severely limits air flow.
The bedding should have a high carbon and low nitrogen (low protein) content. The bedding is eaten by earthworms as it breaks down. High protein materials need to undergo a thermophilic decomposition before being fed to earthworms. High protein (high nitrogen) materials like meat and dairy products heat up considerably while decomposing. The heat generated is fatal to the African Nightcrawler.
In urban settings, newspaper and brown carton boxes are the best primary bedding material to use. Apart from ease of sourcing, there is nothing in newsprint (or brown carton boxes) that is harmful to worms. DO NOT use glossy paper since it contains substances toxic to earthworms.
To make a newspaper bedding, shred newspaper (and/or carton boxes) to one-inch strips. Fluff the newspaper strips by working your hands into the bedding. Broadcast some soil over the paper strips. The soil provides grit to the worms' intestines and is a good source of microorganisms that break down food scraps. Spray with water until 50% - 80% moist but not wet.
Once the bedding is finished, you can introduce the worms and allow the worms to work its way into the bedding. For every kilogram of bedding, I add about ten (10) adult African Nightcrawler earthworms.
My next post is about earthworm food.
SOURCE:"Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
Proper bedding. The bedding is any material that provides a livable environment for earthworms. It must have the following characteristics: water retentiveness, good bulking potential (porosity and looseness), and high carbon and low nitrogen (low protein) content.
The bedding must be able to retain water. The African Nightcrawler earthworm breathes through its skin and needs moisture to do so. An earthworm dies if its skin dries up.
The bedding must be porous and loose. Earthworms require air to breathe and a dense bedding severely limits air flow.
The bedding should have a high carbon and low nitrogen (low protein) content. The bedding is eaten by earthworms as it breaks down. High protein materials need to undergo a thermophilic decomposition before being fed to earthworms. High protein (high nitrogen) materials like meat and dairy products heat up considerably while decomposing. The heat generated is fatal to the African Nightcrawler.
In urban settings, newspaper and brown carton boxes are the best primary bedding material to use. Apart from ease of sourcing, there is nothing in newsprint (or brown carton boxes) that is harmful to worms. DO NOT use glossy paper since it contains substances toxic to earthworms.
To make a newspaper bedding, shred newspaper (and/or carton boxes) to one-inch strips. Fluff the newspaper strips by working your hands into the bedding. Broadcast some soil over the paper strips. The soil provides grit to the worms' intestines and is a good source of microorganisms that break down food scraps. Spray with water until 50% - 80% moist but not wet.
Once the bedding is finished, you can introduce the worms and allow the worms to work its way into the bedding. For every kilogram of bedding, I add about ten (10) adult African Nightcrawler earthworms.
My next post is about earthworm food.
SOURCE:"Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
Raising earthworms as pets: food source
Food source. African Nightcrawlers are voracious eaters of kitchen and garden wastes. A good rule of thumb is to add a cup of shredded fruit peelings and/or vegetable wastes everyday for every 20 worms OR add food scraps equivalent to the initial purchase weight of the worms.
High protein kitchen wastes like meat, fish, dairy, and oily foods need to be pre-composted before using as worm food. Worms breathe through their skin. If oil coats their skin, they wouldn't be able to breathe. Citrus and onion peels should also be pre-composted.
Pre-composting allows high protein materials to breakdown and give off heat without affecting the earthworms. Gases produced by high protein materials like ammonia are also fatal to earthworms.
Shredded, dried tree leaves and garden wastes can also be added to the bedding as worm food but it is better to pre-compost these with high protein materials.
I will discuss in another post a simple method of pre-composting food waste.
SOURCE:"Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
High protein kitchen wastes like meat, fish, dairy, and oily foods need to be pre-composted before using as worm food. Worms breathe through their skin. If oil coats their skin, they wouldn't be able to breathe. Citrus and onion peels should also be pre-composted.
Pre-composting allows high protein materials to breakdown and give off heat without affecting the earthworms. Gases produced by high protein materials like ammonia are also fatal to earthworms.
Shredded, dried tree leaves and garden wastes can also be added to the bedding as worm food but it is better to pre-compost these with high protein materials.
I will discuss in another post a simple method of pre-composting food waste.
SOURCE:"Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
March 12, 2010
Raising earthworms as pets: the African Nightcrawler (ANC)
Worms, specifically the African Nightcrawler Worms (Eudrilus eugeniae), as household pets have tremendous potential in making our environment healthier.
Vermicomposting(worm composting) is an ecologically sustainable way of converting biodegradable household wastes into fertilizer. The fertilizer, called vermicasts, has proven to be equal if not superior to synthetic fertilizers.
Nevertheless, the idea of worms as pets is quite difficult to accept because worms are unsightly creatures. The fact that worms feed on rotting materials including animal manure gives the impression that they are dirty and may be a source of diseases.
This impression has no basis at all.
Recent scientific studies have indicated that worm castings are free from pathogenic bacteria and suppresses soil microorganisms detrimental to plants. Some bio-remediation experiments use worms to find out their effectiveness in cleaning contaminated soils.
Worms need care as other pets do. Five basic requirements need to be met to successfully take care of worms: proper bedding, food source, appropriate moisture, aeration and protection from temperature extremes.
It seems difficult but once everything has been set-up, things become easier.
My next post discusses proper bedding for worms.
The reference used for the succeeding posts on "Raising earthworms as pets" is the "Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
Vermicomposting(worm composting) is an ecologically sustainable way of converting biodegradable household wastes into fertilizer. The fertilizer, called vermicasts, has proven to be equal if not superior to synthetic fertilizers.
Nevertheless, the idea of worms as pets is quite difficult to accept because worms are unsightly creatures. The fact that worms feed on rotting materials including animal manure gives the impression that they are dirty and may be a source of diseases.
This impression has no basis at all.
Recent scientific studies have indicated that worm castings are free from pathogenic bacteria and suppresses soil microorganisms detrimental to plants. Some bio-remediation experiments use worms to find out their effectiveness in cleaning contaminated soils.
Worms need care as other pets do. Five basic requirements need to be met to successfully take care of worms: proper bedding, food source, appropriate moisture, aeration and protection from temperature extremes.
It seems difficult but once everything has been set-up, things become easier.
My next post discusses proper bedding for worms.
The reference used for the succeeding posts on "Raising earthworms as pets" is the "Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture", by Glenn Munroe, Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
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