Sooo....the time has come to jump ahead to the heart of the matter. As I stated earlier, the materials we covered in parts 1 and 2 are important in order to understand the particulars of what is to come, and now there is another point that must be made. A quick point to be sure, but one that is certainly significant!
The concept of raising worms for your own personal use as fishing bait, or vermicomposters, etc., and the concept of raising worms for sale to other people, for whatever use they have in mind, are two entirely different ideas, and require two completely different methods. You cou ld certainly do both at the same time, but to achieve top efficiency and productivity at the least possible cost (in both money and time), the two batches of worms will have to be maintained in very different manners. The system I am outlining in this series of articles is designed as a method of r aising and maintaining a large population of worms, in a minimal amount of space, with the purpose of resale in mind. If this is what you are after, then take a tip from me and tuck any books you already possess on the art of raising red worms on a very high shelf, since much of what is to follow w ill be in total disagreement with what you have already been reading.
To help you to understand what I'm getting at, let's look at my current situation as a supplier of red worms. When I moved here to Saskatoon to attend university (I'm a late bloomer), I was very limited in the amount of personal belongings which I could bring with me. Moving from an entire house of my own into a small, but comfortable basement suite, meant leaving my large worm bed (18 square feet) behind. What I actually brought with me consisted of 12 small RubberMaid containers, each measuring roughly 10 inches by 14 inches, and approximately 6-8 inches deep. There was a worm population i n each of those, and in addition, I brought one larger container, somewhere in the area of 16 inches by 22 inches, and 12-14 inches deep. This also contained a population of worms. I brought a couple sacks of the "bog soil" which I have been using for bedding, and some 1-gallon ice-cream buckets wh ich I use for many different things. That was my entire inventory of vermiculturing equipment, and I had no problem finding room for any of it. (I also brought several hundred pages of information about red worms which I have compiled over the years, and of course, my own personal notes.)
Since that time, I have supplied 8-9 people, each with a starter system composed of one of those smaller containers, bedding, and roughly 1 pound of red worms (Lumbricus Rubellus), which is certainly not very impressive. (Between school and maintaining this page, I have very little time for actual attention to the business of selling worms.) The fact that I have just as many worms now as I did in the beginning might be a little more impressive (though not much.) But maybe I can get your attention by telling you that right at this moment, I am fully prepared to supply to anyone who wishes, th e equivalent of 100, or even 200 pounds of healthy red worms, and I have only 3 requirements that have to be met.
As long as these three conditions are met (it would also be nice to get paid) I have no problem in supplying you with the worms. Furthermore, I could probably do it again almost immediately. And again...and again...etc...etc. The whole trick is contained in one single word... equivalent. It is, however, a big word when used in this context, and it requires a certain amount of explanation. This explanation will necessarily move around a lot, and keeping in mind that worms are visually impaired, I hope you'll forgive this explanation for all the old ideas that are about to get knocked over. Let's start with the concept of population density. (From the viewpoint of both the worm grower, and the worm.)
It appears to be generally accepted by worm growers (myself not included) that the average pound of red worms offered for sale will consist of:
(Thought I was taking a break didn't you?)
W..a..y..y..y back in part 1, under the heading "Facts and Figures...Thoughts and Things", it was mentioned that another way to make up 1 pound of red worms is by using over 100,000 spawn. (It would require as many as 450,000 if they were freshly hatched, but I keep saying 100,000 for a reason which I will eventually get to.) In regards to what we are discussing, however, this could present a few problems.
Now, I realize there may appear to be some rather extravagant claims in the previous paragraph, but only if you have never seen this process at work. It is not a magical procedure, or some remarkable "invention" of my own. There are good, solid reasons which help explain each step along the way. (T he tremendous adaptability of the worm is the main agent at work here, and a few simple methods which I came across as a result of being curious.) For now, I'll leave you to mull these things over, while I gather together the notes which I will use in the next installment to hopefully illustrate my points. Because the very nature of some of the techniques I will explain may strike you as strange (to say the least), I will need to offer some pretty detailed evidence of what I am saying, and maybe even outline a test or two which you can try at home on a sample population of worms.
Until that time.... don't eat any flies.
To be continued...
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