White Worms for food
- Thread starter Paul B
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Amstar
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worms in their new "home" are doing well. couple of questions:
1) What happens when you are not going to be home (going out of town for work etc) -- just make sure the soil is moist and they have a piece of bread/yogurt before you leave?
2) The mini-fridge/wine fridge I have has a glass door that you can see through. Do I need to blacken the door window to give the worms complete darkness to do their "thing" HAHA
1) What happens when you are not going to be home (going out of town for work etc) -- just make sure the soil is moist and they have a piece of bread/yogurt before you leave?
2) The mini-fridge/wine fridge I have has a glass door that you can see through. Do I need to blacken the door window to give the worms complete darkness to do their "thing" HAHA
Snoopdog
Valuable Member
1) We are going to leave for a few days coming soon also, our plan is to split any cultures that look like they could have a pending crash, then feed a little extra while we are gone. Surprisingly they are pretty resilient.
2) They do not need complete darkness, just dark. One of our wine fridges is inside, the much larger one is in our garage. Light makes them go down in the soil, I think as long as it is not direct sunlight or direct interior light you are okay. It is a useful tactic though, make a lot of noise or give them light they will bury themselves. If you want them to come to the surface flood them.
Snoopdog
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Anyone that is looking for white worms, our Etsy store has been taken down again. We are giving up on Etsy because of their "no live items" policy and just doing Ebay. Our Ebay store is back open and shipping is finally reduced since the weather has gotten more mild. We are fully stocked now, changed our approach to rid ourselves from any pest so yield is better.
We also updated our website with more information and removed the Etsy link.
We also updated our website with more information and removed the Etsy link.
I finally got my method down. I will take pictures, but short of it is, (1) I put the yogurt/yeast/bread on a mesh plastic canvas sheet above the soil and cut it about an inch or so larger than the size of your glob of yogurt, and (2) use Trader Joes European Style Whole Milk yogurt--it is goopy, but I swear the worms grow twice as fast as any other food I've tried. I get them piling over each other to get the yogurt on the screen, and then it's super easy to scoop up a bunch of them.
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Paul B
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My whiteworm culture is still growing and it is about 15 years old. I don't get as many as you because I don't use yogurt but I get enough for my purposes.
I have been using the same soil for years but every few months, I flood it and keep running water in it until the water comes out kind of clear. Then I put it all in a net and drain most of the water out then I replace some of the soil. So far it is working.
I have been using the same soil for years but every few months, I flood it and keep running water in it until the water comes out kind of clear. Then I put it all in a net and drain most of the water out then I replace some of the soil. So far it is working.
Snoopdog
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Around a year ago we switched to large tubs of full fat whole milk yogurt, put yeast on the top of that.
smitten with ocean life
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jojo, how old is your culture? i wish i had that many!
Nearly crashing! I need to change soil ASAP, just been too busy at the office. I'll try to autoclave soil tomorrow or Wednesday and get them transferred over. They really took off when I started feeding the whole milk Euro style yogurt. It's soupy, but they go through it quickly. Wish I had a bigger wine fridge :-)
How is yours doing? What size containers are you using?
smitten with ocean life
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they are ok. it was starting to smell, so i did a dirt change/cleaning. i did way too much dirt, so they are in 3 different containers. i use whole, plain greek yogurt 
. but have no where near as many as you do! didnt know how long it takes to get to that
. but have no where near as many as you do! didnt know how long it takes to get to that
Amstar
Well-Known Member
any suggestions/tips tricks to flooding a culture -- I do not have any more space in my wine fridge to split the cultures into new ones --- so want to flood and put into new dirt/new containers before they crash
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Paul B
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i flood them and let water through them for a while. them put it through a net and slightly squeeze it. thats t.
i am using the same soil for years.
i am using the same soil for years.
What type of net are you using? When I tried doing this with a wire mesh colander, the worms just got all into the colander trying to get out.
Snoopdog
Valuable Member
Yeah, never worked for us. Just starting with fresh soil and transferring the worms works better. The soil gets so saturated with moisture and water, it is just not worth it. Plus that old soil makes excellent fertilizer. My grass turns green where we put the old soil, normally a week after.
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