how to do yall winter your worms

i live in n.tn and this will be my first winter with my worms. does anyone heat their buildings for their worms?

i wish someone had answered your question since i am wondering the same thing--i haven't started worms yet and wonder if i can start them now and keep them in the garage--how warm do they need to be? we don't have a severe winter but we do get some freezing weather and our garage would be cold but most likely not freezing --

Guys check the verimcomposting thread, those guys can probably answer your questions better. I'd kinda like to know the answer myself.

Well, in the wild they hibernate---so you would think they aren't bothered by the cold---we have worms in the yard and winters of -25 F---they come back up in the spring---

What kind of worms are we speaking of? Native worms need no protection.

Worms that are farmed to produce casts and or eat garbage and manure may need above freezing protection.

Inside ones need warm temps, my outside one are on their own. Too much trouble to knit them mittens..LOL

Dogcat5, the image of worms with mittens is SO hilarious! Love it!

Well it got down to 28 last night so we put a torpedo heater in the shed to keep our worms from freezing. my husband then realized this morning that if we had to do this every night it would cost $900 a month oops guess we need a better idea.

Instead of heating the shed with a heater, can you build a hot bed around the worm container? There are many ways to build one. If you have access to fresh manure, that will be the cheapest way to keep the area warm. Some folks use electric mats and heat tape designed for green houses and plumbing.

http://www.holon.se/garden/howto/hotbed_en.shtml

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/martin104.html

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanders92.html

That's a great idea garden_mermaid. I just love chatting on DG, because plp have some many wonderful ideas and are so friendly and willing to share both ideas and knowledge. It's great!

Thanks guys for the advise my husband has decided to put a tent heater in there. our shed is one of those canvas building in a box thing that we got until we have our building built. that way we can heat it with wood to keep cost down. we are hoping to start selling our worms but havent gotten any orders from our website yet. anybody need any healthy redworms?

Will redworms survive in a lasagne garden in freezing weather? It doesn't heat up like compost.

Cathy4, the worms just dig in deeper in cold weather. Not a problem.

But if you take them some hot tea on the really cold nights, I think they'd *really* appreciate it.

>evil smile<

Worm tea, that is.

Pagancat, you are such a "naughty" gardener...........ROFLMAO!!!

I prefer "dirty", if you don't mind - sniff!