Hi guys,

I thought I’d address something I’ve noticed for a while now in various worm farming related groups & forums etc.

It’s in regard to the belief that keeping a worm farm overly wet and adding / flushing large volumes of water to it on a regular basis is apparently a ‘good thing’ and not really an issue because in a couple of cases there’s been an observation of lots of wisps (baby worms) and cocoons making it appear like they’ve gone on some sort of happy holiday breeding frenzy.

Hmmm… well I’m not going to get into the whole leachate thing in this post because that’s already been done.

However, as far as the breeding frenzy goes, it’s kind of true. But unfortunately… not in a ‘happy holiday’ kinda way.

Here’s why…

In unfavourable conditions, it may actually be a really good indication that your worms are stressed.

Yep… just like humans, the little champions can get a bit stressed out if things aren’t quite right… you know…. like struggling to breathe and stuff. 🥴

So why is this bad? They’re ‘just compost worms’ right? 🤨

WRONG!!! ☝️

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Firstly… its just plain cruel. Our job as dedicated, passionate and caring custodians of the worm is to look after them and do our best to ensure they’re kept in favourable conditions so they can continue doing their great work.

Secondly… they’re not ‘just’ compost worms! They’re amazing little hardworking legends full of plant supporting goodness, which play a pivotal role within the soil food web. So, like their incredibly amazing little bee mates, without ’em we’d be pretty much screwed!

Thirdly…. if they’re stressed, it can halt their growth because they may stop feeding and in turn, the productivity of your worm farm decreases, which is counter productive to its intended purpose.

****

This is why its important to be aware of what’s happening in your worm farm, especially when keeping them in a small confined environment above the ground.

In fact, I’ve recently discovered that one of the manufacturers of a popular home worm farm product have decided to change their instruction manual to now advise against the flushing of water through their farms, due to the large number of complaints received from customers with regards to their entire worm farm populations dying.

The farms in question hold approx. 2000 – 4000 worms at full capacity depending on the system, so that’s also a decent amount of coin flushed down the drain… (pardon the pun… 🙃) in addition to the slimy and stinky mass homicide.

After reading it, I have to say they still haven’t got it quite right because they now seem to be referring to an ‘extract’ as worm tea, however, it’s still a positive step in the right direction… I guess. 🤨😒

Of course if the worm farms have also been overfed as well as over watered (especially in a hot climate), that is obviously a recipe for disaster.

Admittedly, I’ve only read a small snippet of the change and just hope they’re not insinuating or flat out recommending to pour an extract all over the leaves of edibles because from a safety perspective, even an extract should only ever be used as a soil drench around both ornamental and edibles.

So, when it comes to breeding and increasing a worm population in a controlled environment, I thought I’d just make mention of the following because doing it correctly with the right knowledge DOES matter…

*Here comes the real passion… Are you ready?… ha! 😄

Professional commercial breeding requires a whole different set of rules, skills and carefully calculated methods which need regular monitoring, not to mention also being quite labour intensive.

It’s a whole different ball game compared to operating a small home worm farm used to compost food scraps. It can be a lot of fun, but also requires dedication and a commitment to further learning plus a fair chunk of change if you plan on going big… like anything worthwhile really, when you think about it.

So, if you’ve ever wondered why worms can be pretty expensive from a credible and reputable source, it’s because there is often a significant capital investment, a sh*t ton of work / labour, regular observation / testing / experimentation etc. just to ensure you receive a pack of your very own high quality performers that will constantly produce a truly incredible rich organic product for your plants and garden.

Seriously… what is there not to love! 😎👍👊

So, with that said… as a small commercial operator in the vermiculture arena, I can 100% assure you that breeding worms DOES NOT involve deliberately creating unfavourable conditions that causes our little squirmy mates to automatically go into a stressful and desperate breeding rampage merely for the sole purpose of trying to keep their valuable population alive, whilst also suffering an unnecessarily cruel and inevitable fate.

That’s not how it works.

Therefore, if you feel that your farm is not providing favourable conditions for your composting compadres but there still seems to be an unusually excessive amount of wisps and cocoons, then have a closer look, have a little dig around and see what you can do to help rectify it.

If you don’t know… don’t be afraid to ask someone who does and put it in your education tool box so you know for next time and even pay it forward by helping someone else who needs it.

Sometimes it can be something as simple as adding more of a carbon source (i.e shredded or torn up cardboard / newspaper etc.) and a little buffer if required.

Remember, our job is to simply provide our little wriggly mates with the most favourable conditions possible and their job is to reward our efforts with all of that beautiful rich black gold!

Simple, easy and straightforward.

Hope that helps and adds value to your own worm farming endeavours.

Chris 😊👍