There is a thread quite a ways down about worm beds under rabbit cages. I used to raise worms in styrofoam beer coolers on the back porch and want to share an easy way of harvesting the worms. Whenever my worms had pretty much turned their bedding into castings and needed to be divided and rebedded, I dumped the whole mess out onto a piece of plywood or an old plastic table cloth or shower curtain. If it is a sunny day, just pile the whole deal up into one big pile and wait about 15 min. If it is not sunny out or you are doing this in a barn or what ever, put a light about 6-8 inches above the pile. I used an old crookneck desk lamp. After 15 min. the worms will have moved deeper into the pile to get away from the heat/light. Scrape away a layer of the pile, and wait another 15 min. I usually did this outside and pulled weeds while I waited, scrape layers away until you end up with a big wriggling ball of worms all wrapped around one another. In the process of scraping away the castings, you will see tiny eggs shaped amber colored globules in the castings. These are eggs which will hatch out more worms. Now, if you want to raise worms in a container you should have started a day or two before harvesting by shredding newspaper into long strips into a bucket and covering it in warm water. If the paper absorbs the water and is sticking out add more water. The paper needs to be totally saturated. Once your worms are out, drain the paper and put it into your container. The coolers I used had hole in them from a hot icepick for drainage, and I set them into rubbermaid totes. The liquid that leeches out is liquid gold and orchid growers will pay good money for it. Put your paper into the cooler, with a spade full or two of garden soil and put your worms into one end of the cooler. Add food once a week to the cooler. Add the food to the opposite end each week (alternate left end with right end, does that make sense ?) because the worms will travel through the bedding to get to the food and consume the bedding as well as the food. When you can no longer recognize any newpaper its time to harvest, divide or sell worms, and start over. Keep the cooler/tote in the shade at all times, or on the back porch inside or where ever else they will be protected from heat/sun. If the bedding becomes dry mist the top until moist but not wet. Worms can and do drown. Worms love coffee grounds, manure, most fruit and veggie scraps. Don't like onions, citrus or uncrushed egg shells. Hope this helps ~ Shari

-- Shari (HelixHi76@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002

Answers

In an attempt to make the archives more of a one stop answer spot for some queries, I’ve decided to add another method of worm harvesting that I found interesting:

City Farmer's New Worm Bin Harvest Method

Developed by Hilary Pada Copyright (C) City Farmer January 21, 1996

Equipment · 1 onion bag or nylon 'delicates' laundry bag, closure for top · 2 or 3 buckets for finished compost and worms (one should have a cover to set on loosely) · Worms favorite sweet snacks (kiwis, apples, melons) · Plastic sheet or large garbage bag for harvesting area Steps to Harvesting 1. Feed your worms one last time before harvest and leave them for at least 10 days (you want to starve them a little). 2. Get a small onion sack or laundry bag with holes large enough for worms to crawl through. Fill bag with some of worms favorite foods, sweet things like apples, melon peels, kiwis, etc. 3. Bury bag with food in next corner as you would their regular feeding. Leave for a day and a half (check) to two days. 4. After two days, the worms should have migrated into the onion bag. If so, remove the bag and set in a covered pail for the moment. Make sure you leave air venting. 5. You may want to put down a plastic sheet or bag in the harvest area as there will be some mess. Now, beginning in the opposite corner to where you last fed, start to pull out handfuls of the finished compost and dump into an empty bucket. You should find very few worms. Place any you might find into the covered bucket with the bagged worms or another smaller bucket if you like. 6. As you get nearer to the area where you had the bag buried, you may find a few more straggler worms. You may want to do a dump and sort with this last bit of compost - or build a small mound of finished compost, exposed to the light and sift off the top so that the worms dive down. 7. Once you have all the compost and worms sorted, rebuild the bed with your moistened leaves, newspaper, and couple handfuls of dirt. 8. Take the bag of worms and bury them in the first corner. This will be their first feeding. Make sure you put all the stragglers that were outside the bag in too. 9. In a week or a little less depending on how much food was in the bag, feed your worms in the next corner. In a few days, you should be able to lift the bag out of the first corner and shake it free of castings. Most of the worms should have migrated to the next feeding area and voila you've just harvested your bin! 10. By having all your worms in a bag, it is also easier to see how many you actually have so that if necessary you can divide the population at that time - and start another worm bin for yourself or a friend.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.

Can 'bloodworms' be raised this way? Fisherman (including mine) pay a bundle for them.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002.

Eggshell halves work well as stragler traps also.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.