two worm questions

I just started the worm thing this spring and for the most part things are going good. There is more black gold down under than I ever thought there would be and I bet my worms have grown in number from 1000 to 10,000. I plan to move them to a bigger box soon. Anyway, I have two problems that I bet some of you all can help with:

First, I have a lot of big magotts (I think from house flys) in there and I sure would like to put an end to this. I have been putting more paper over the food than I was but I don't think that this is helping. Any ideas?

Also, I can see that there will be a day when I will need to get rid of some of my worms and I like the idea of selling some for a few $$$. I know there is about 1000 to a pound but how do you get a pound of red worms and not a lot of soil and house fly maggots?

Thanks for your help!
Greg

Hi Greg

My guess is these are Black soldier fly larva. Not harmful to the worms, don't carry disease. They will eat the non-decomposed food that is too big for your worms. Here's a link that will give you more info and show you a pic.
http://www.happydranch.com/8.html

Sherri

This message was edited Aug 1, 2009 5:53 PM

Yes, it does look like what I have is soldier fly larva. I guess they are not hurting anything but they are kind of nasty and they are keeping most of my worms down low in the bin. It looks like if I am going to live with them I will need to keep the bin good and mixed so the worms get some of the food.

Greg

It would take someone with more experience than I have to tell you how to keep them from getting in your bin. Maybe a screen over the top. They don't live long so if you can block them out the others will die off fairly quick.

I have so much waste that I don't mind them. I get more compost quicker. However I do wear those 'wet' gloves when I work with my bin. :)

I guess I haven't seen any soldier flies in my worms. From the article forwarded by seray 53, they don't seem to be a problem living with the worms.
I have developed a kitchen worm bin that uses the plastic 5 gallon buckets you get from
everywhere. It has a lid with holes for breathing. I guess this is why I don't have any soldier flies, they can't get to the bin.
I also have purchased an old blender from a local resale store for $4.99. I blend all of my scrap food as well as the weeds I gather from the flower beds on the front of my house.
These weeds have some dirt attached to the roots.
This leaves me with a slurry which I allow to ferment for a few days. I then mix this slurry with shredded junk mail until it is very damp but you can't wring moisture out. I lay this in layers on top of my bin.
My bin is designed so I can lift the inner bucket out of the outer bucket and using a garden claw tool I can rake the casting out of the bottom without disturbing too many
worms.

This message was edited Aug 1, 2009 11:21 PM

All you have to do is pull the upper bucket out of the lower bucket.
I do this periodically to pour off any liquid that might have collected.
If I have trouble with too many worms heading down into the lower bucket,
I put one of those small, "LED," puck lights you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot
for about $6. The battery will last about a month. It shines enough light to keep
the little buggers where they belong.
I start the bucket with a newspaper covering the wires, with a mixture of Choir and dirt to
start. Then I begin feeding about once a week, a 1 inch layer of slurry/junk mail.
The Kitchen bin is designed to be placed in the kitchen of laundry room. It does not smell
and can be painted any color you would like.
I have changed the bottom bucket for a white bucket so light will shine through keeping the litter buggers home.
Lonejack

This message was edited Aug 1, 2009 11:21 PM