Uncle Jims Worm Farm 360

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from uncle jim? its the super reds. The issue with purchasing other worms such as the canadian night crawler is that they need a colder climate year round and they arent good at composting. they also need deeper soil. Uncle jim's worm farm company was meant to be a vermicompost company. so they would stock up on worms that would fit the job for the gardeners. I am still monitoring the 1000 worm medley that i purchased. they seem to be long enough but dont fit the girth for an adult ray. maybe for ray pups. this can be used as treats though. I mean you can use them for adult rays but you'd be feeding atleast 50 at each feeding PER RAY. so you'd deplete your worm population pretty quick. though i am trying to get my rays on something other than worms. its a pain to keep feeding them worms. especially since i dont have a large enough population.
 
just an update. got another pouch of super reds to feed the larger rays as part of the daily staple. I plan on feeding worms every weekend to my big motoros and feed worms every day to my small BDs. im having difficult time getting my young BDs on other foods. i feel that their either their jaws are too nimble to chew down some cut shrimp or they just dont like it. The BD i got from Trev just doesnt like anything except worms lol. but its not a big deal. I plan on changing up their diets every week. Ive given up on trying to make them breed, it started taking away the enjoyment from the hobby. Water changes began to become a loathed chore and i started to appreciate the fish less and less. So now im just doing it as an enjoyment for now as i am applying for new jobs (still a student). I still want to get another female marbled motoro but i need to pay off some student debt first. As for the worms, they seem to be doing fine. i may have put too much food but it seems to be ok. i will go to the dollar store tomorow to buy a spray bottle to spray down the bin every other day. i am also currently planning on a 8'x4'x27" plywood tank. i happen to get my hands on a 250$ giftcard to homedepot i am going to purchase a table saw. and start future planning.
 
just an update on the worm farm... I seem to be having trouble getting the population to boom.. they dont seem to be eating as much or as quickly as i thought they would.... and im having trouble knowing when i can add another tray...
 
A very sad and bad update on the beginner worm farmer in NJ....

So over the past few months I was upset at the efficiency my worms were performing. their population wasnt growing until about a month ago. I changed up some things and I think i finally had the right idea and methods! I had normally kept them outside in the shade no problem. But past 2 weeks happened. Where the Atmospheric temperature was above 90.

I had kept them under my tree where there is litterally always complete shade so the temperature in the box should have been fine. But last 2 weeks the temperature shot up to around 96. I thought since it was in the shade, there shouldnt have been a problem. i couldnt have been more wrong.
This morning i opened the box to do my normal weekly feeding of all the scraps i save. But when i opened the box AT 6 AM in the morning, i noticed the box still warm when the outside temp was around 70. I opened the box, a wave of heat blasted in my face and a swarm of fruit flies or w.e flies escape from the box. From the heat coming out of the box i realized that this was way too hot. i started digging into the compost and started looking for worms, I found nothing. nothing but puddles of melted worms. in the drain box was where most of the worms had crawled and had died (melted). the smell wasnt bad but I was extremely upset going to the gym this morning (i used that anger to hit a new PR).

But the amount of heat in the box at this hour didnt sense to me.... But here I guess are the lesson learned or theories that could have done this.

1. The outside heat cooked the bin and the heat was trapped with the moisture making a steam machine. killing everything.

2. The worm compost actually began to form normal compost and anerobic bacteria like normal compost and began to burn up killing the worms. the weather may have helped it.


So now i have to restart, and worms now arent that cheap and im a little low on cash for more worms as feeding my rays is emptying my wallet as it is. (currently stocking up and fishing for sea robins as food).

Heres to starting all over.

Jesse
 
Sorry to hear about your worm bin - give it another try. I actually built a new, larger bin (a couple of heavy duty bins from the container store), added worms from my old bin and got 1,000 from Uncle Jim's.

Like anything, it's a bit of art and science to make your worms most happy. The right amount of moisture is key. So is the right amount of air / drainage (holes in the bin).

Honestly, the best thing to do after getting new worms is to just let them settle in for a couple of months (of course, giving them food and moisture). Once they get going, they reproduce like crazy. It's been hot in our garage and they love it.

I also use them for fishing :)

As an aside, I visited Uncle Jim's worm farm and picked up my worms. It's less than 5 minutes from where Cichlid Club of York (CCY) holds its monthly meetings in Spring Grove, PA. Nice folks, family business and a great excuse to hang out with my fish club peeps.

Matt
 
I did the se thing with African nightcrawlers and red wigglers. The African crawlers were supposed to be able to tolerate warmer temps but I diddnt have much luck. Reds on the other hand took off.
 
I also do the red wiggler composting. Bought my worms from eBay long ago. I've found that Purina Worm Chow really gets them big fast, and multiplying. I used to use kitchen scraps, but felt they didn't multiply fast enough. I feed my fish once a week a large collection of the worms. They love it!
 
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I also feed Black Soldier Fly Larvae to my fish, particularly my Archerfish which eat insects in the wild. Either grow your own as live food or buy freeze dried. Kinda fatty but good calcium/phosphorus ratio.
 
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