Worm Farm?

I saw a presentation today, by a couple who sell Can-O-Worms. For a mere $180, you get a worm 3 story condo, 2 lbs. of worms, and grit to add to their condo.(www.ourvitalearth.com). I am seriously crazy and also serious about wanting one of these. You can use the compost (worm droppings) and also the worm liquid. Supposedly it helps get rid of scale, fungus, etc. etc.

Anyone have one of these??? Thanks, Karen

I raise worms but would never think of paying almost two hundred dollars to get started at it.

You can buy the four-tray can-o-worms for as little as $69 at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=blended&field-keywords=can%20o%20worms&results-process=default&dispatch=search&store-name=all-product-search/ref=pd_sl_aw_tops-1_blended_14053800_2&results-process=default?tag2=amd-google-20

In Florida there are many worm farms so you should be able to Google for some local worms to supply your worm farm.

As for me, I use an old chest freezer (freebie) and it works great! Many folks have worm farms in those tupperware storage boxes available at Walmart for as little as $5.00.

As for the "grit", if you feed your worms what they want you shouldn't need to offer them any grit, there will be plenty available via their food or you can easily augment it with simple sand or, preferably, corn meal.

Shoe.

I agree with Shoe. The $180 seems excessive. We've gotten Can O'Worms and Wriggly Wranches through local composting programs for nominal costs. 1 lb of worms seems to avg about $15-$20 if you order via mail. Most states have some local suppliers of compost worms. A handful of sand or soil from your landscaping should provide all the grit you need. We gave the Can O'Worms away to a garden neighbor and kept the Wriggly Wranch for use on our deck.

I too am thinking about getting started with some worms, my source is going out of business, so sad. She sells a cubic foot of castings for $5 and they're so fresh, full of eggs. Guess I'll give it a go. My compost is full of the little things, but I love being able to put some castings in the soil when I plant.
I read here on DGs a year or so ago,(I forget who posted ) that if you pulverize egg shells, and the worms eat them ,they are a very good source of calcium, otherwise it takes years for the shell to break down. Don't know if it's true but it seems logical to me, Like the corn meal, it's also good grit.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!! You have saved me a ton of money and we certainly have lots of "sand" in our soil here. Cornmeal is easy too. Karen

dquimo, yes, you'll need to pulverize the egg shells otherwise they'll just lay around in there forever! I usually keep a separate blender handy and put them in it, along with other food scraps and blend it all up as a special "treat" to my wormies!

T-karen, there are some plans on DG somewhere to make home-made worm bins; maybe you can finding something via Search (worm bins; worm compost, etc).

Hey Mermaid, how do you like the Wriggly Wranch. I don't think I've seen that one before.

Shoe

(pic of some of my pets, most likely wishing they had their sunglasses on!)

tropicalkaren, google "cheap and easy worm bin" and "worm man." The first will give you a -- you guessed it -- cheap and easy way to build their house, and the second will send you worms. I'm VERY happy with my results on this.

Good luck! It makes GREAT stuff!

Thanks, will do! Karen

This is a great site!