Vermicomposting, worm bin, composting with worms community and forums
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Micah
- Male
- Muskogee, OK
- United States
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Eisenia Fetida Farmers
42 members
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Educational Wormers
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Indoor Vermicomposters
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Micah's Discussions
Using Paper and cardboard as bedding
4 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Susan Bolman Apr 29.
Dead worms
Replied Mar 7
Micah's Page
Micah's Blog
Would you like your worm tea sweet or unsweet?
Posted on May 21, 2009 at 8:00pm — 1 Comment
WORMS DEAD AND DYING!
Posted on May 18, 2009 at 4:33pm — 3 Comments
My own military defense system?????????
Posted on April 25, 2009 at 3:36pm — 5 Comments
The Worm Factory Update
Posted on April 19, 2009 at 7:21pm — 5 Comments
Micah's Photos
Profile Information
- When did you start composting with worms?
- June 15, 2008
- What do your worms like to eat?
- They love lettuce, corn meal, and newspaper
- What kinds of worms do you have?
- red wiggler
- What worm bins do you use?
- "The worm factory"
- How many pounds of garbage do your worms recycle each week?
- 1
- My Vermicomposters.com Map Entry URL:
- http://vermicomposters.com/wormbin?id=872
- About Me:
- I work in the mental health field as a case manager. I like to fish, worm compost, and garden. I love to learn and study new things. I plan on getting a master's degree in school counseling.
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I would dig into that hot spot though and see what the worms think of the heat. If you can't find a single worm- then you may have an issue. Based on my experience and what I've read (in scientific papers), you don't have a problem. Extended high temps will effect reproduction rates by slowing them down a little. However inconsistently high temps will stimulate reproduction. Let me know how that sounds and how it goes for you-B
Disposal of waste was a benefit to all the businesses mentioned above. Vermicomposting saves the stables lots of money compared to other forms of labor intensive and smelly composting methods. In addition to the nursery being able to compost any of their waste, they were also able to make their own nutrients and save on nutrient cost. Since the waste that the nursery generated was not enough for the worm population the nursery was able to ask for "volunteers" to bring their own vegetative waste in as a donation to the worms. Customers were provided with buckets that they were to bring by once a week (no longer than two weeks). In doing so the nursery was provided with possible customers that would not normally be stopping by the store. The nursery eventually started making its own worm-casting tea that they sold for a decent price and for almost nothing to the "volunteers" that brought in vegetative waste regularly.
So, as far as selling worms there are many angles. It depends where you live (weather, composting regulations), your "facility" capacity, your market, your food source, your desired income, and many other things for sure.
In my mind it is difficult to make a full income just on selling worms for composting. I think that if your angle is to just sell worms then selling a few varieties may be a good idea. However when one breeds a variety of species the difficulty of keeping them separate is a challenge that requires great care or duplication of equipment.
In response to:
I was on E-bay... people sell and buy worms regularly. I haven't done any research, but just from searching on E-bay it appears that more money is made with selling worms than the actual compost
Many people that sell worms are making profits as well on other resale products such as worm bins, worm food, PH / moister meters, and books etc. In actuality many worm suppliers are reselling worms that they bought in bulk from large scale worm composters. There is a farm about four hours away that I could buy EFs for about $6 a pound if I buy seven hundred pounds. During "storage" the worms would undoubtedly grow some while orders / shipments were being made.
Another angle that seems to work, is by finding worm food that you can charge for the disposal of. In certain areas this waste is going to take different forms. In Seattle a already existing composting company approached restaurants to have the Restaurants pay to have their compostables removed by the company instead of the normal Waste Management service. In this case the restaurants where charged about %50 less by weight for this service which adds up since 70-90% of restaurant waste is compostable. They were using the hot composting method in this case, but it was just an example of being payed to remove waste. It is also important to note that the composting business was about 3.5-4 hours away and did not have profit generated from the restaurants payments to them for about four years. However they augmented that by the fact that food waste composts very quickly and they were able to generate income on the sale of the soil that they made from that.
I would say that looking at it at all angles would be best. In my area there is at least 20 nurseries; a strong community interested in organic, sustainable; many "grow" stores offering nutrients derived from worm castings that would be interested in local products, and at least two bulk soil makers, many small organic farms, and many small outlets that would be interested in local worm products.
My plan (not that you asked) is to secure land for the business. I seem to be close unless something falls through; I won't start this until Dec/ Jan/ Feb. I'll start by building my large scale bins. If I haven't found my entire food source, I will do this at this point. I know that this is something that will take time to grow so as far as food I have already established that two of my friends are able to provide me with waste that they produce as landscapers. They will pay me the money that they charged their customers. $30 a yard that is normally payed to the municipal waste (it's a nominal income when one considers that a yard of yard waste fills a standard 6 foot pick-up bed, but it helps to keep things going). I will also get coffee hulls and coffee waste from a roaster that is almost next to the property my worms will be on. Spent grains and hops will come from the local brewery which is three minutes from my house and has shipping containers of free worm food that I could eventually get paid to remove since they pay dearly for trucking just to dump those waste products. I intend to make worm products and in my area there is a high demand for them and for soils containing castings. In addition to all this I plan on "reclaiming" old soil. In my area there are lots of indoor growers. One grower may invest in 120-180 bags of soil, simply to use the soil for less then 80 days. After they have used any soil around the house that they can as in raised beds and so forth, they have no use for there "old" soil and simply chuck it someplace never to be seen again. By combining all that waste, worms, time, water, and a little hope I think I will have a good thing going. Making profits on peoples waste by selling them soil and also worms via internet and locally. My work fluctuates dramatically from really busy to nothing and then back to real busy. I intend to build the worm business slowly. Reach out very locally and doing everything myself in the start. Then spreading out to other markets within 150-200 miles and hiring employees as business dictates. Eventually if I get to a good volume (or see that I will be doing volume someday) I will request funds from the county as has been done in the past in situations where a company has greatly reduced the waste stream which is very sensitive in our area.
Anyway that's my food for thought. I think that there are many ways to get it to work. The avenues may be different depending on where one lives. I would recommend the book Worm Farm Management..... I think that what is called. It is rather expensive most of the time I see it for about $100 or less. I'll check the name and author later as I'm going to take a nap and try to beat this thing.... good luck!
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